RHD sources said 26 contractors were found guilty of controlling 90 per cent of the road work. However, the number of contractors working on the roads is around 1,100.
Submitting fake work experience certificates, showing overvaluation of work, showing documents of completion of work on time despite failing to meet deadlines, submitting the same documents repeatedly in the same tender and other forms of joint venture. There are many types of fraud including submitting fake documents.
Some companies have submitted certificates of experience of working with Water Development Board (WDB), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Public Works Department, Bangladesh Railways and various other government bodies. Some of these certificates were found to be fake.
The Prothom Alo report revealed that the five companies that will get 51 per cent of RHD contracts in FY 2022-23 are Abed Mansoor Construction Ltd, Muhammad Aminul Haq Pvt Ltd, Mozahar Enterprise Ltd, MD Mahfuz Khan Ltd and Hassan Techno Builders Ltd.
In January 2022, the Executive Engineer of Satkhira and in February of the same year, the Executive Engineer of Bagerhat wrote two letters to higher officials complaining about the fraud of Abed Monsoor Construction. The letters alleged that the firm submitted 56 fake certificates.
According to the Tenderers Database Management System (TDMS), a unique database for evaluating tenders, Abed Monsour Construction was awarded 3100 works of RHD in the last five years. The valuation of these works is approximately Tk 5 billion. He was awarded work mostly in Dhaka area.
No one from Abed Monsoor Construction was available to comment on the fraud. RHD sources said the company has been banned for two years. The firm will not get any contract during this period.
Hassan Techno is another contractor that has got the work by RHD. It was awarded more than 500 works worth approximately 25 billion taka. Investigation revealed that Hasan Techno had also submitted several fake documents to get the job. For example, Hassan Techno showed bills worth Tk 1.2 billion in four projects in Brahmanbaria to get another tender. But he did not do these things.