LAHORE - Different parts of newly constructed Canal Bank Road are crumbling only after a couple of months perhaps due to substandard material used by the construction company concerned and some other technical faults while levelling the road, it is learnt.
The sources in Roads Department of City District Government Lahore informed this scribe that the contractors started patchwork at affected areas of the road in order to hide faulty or defective construction of the road as well as for covering their incapability and performance. They said that they so far have repaired most of the damaged parts of the road and the repairing of remaining dilapidated portions is underway.
They said that the officials of various departments concerned started repairing and patchwork of the cracked and damaged segments of the Canal Bank Road as soon as they received information regarding rapidly decaying condition of different important intersections of Canal Bank Road especially from Punjab University New Campus to Thokar Niaz Baig because this long portion was decaying speedily.
They in fact feared of any inquiry in this regard and before the provincial government takes notice whether based any public complaint or any inspection team could expose their defective construction, the sources added. Moreover, reputation of the constructions company was also on stake because any inspection or complaint regarding newly constructed road could expose its performance and claimed technical expertise.
They said that the government awarded the contract of Remodelling Project for widening of the Canal Bank Road to a famous construction company of the country. Although, the company was being given task to construct road on a four-feet outside area of both sides of the Canal Bank Road but the experts of the company failed to lay sound foundation for such new portion of the road for maintaining its level for joining the new and old portions of the road, they said, adding that inefficient engineers of the company focussed to meet deadline given by the government for completion of the project instead of focussing on the quality of work.
It is also learnt that most contractors of CDGL and the provincial government are allegedly using substandard material in construction of different ongoing development projects in violation of the rules and regulations and the practice is still unchecked by the authorities concerned. The sources further said that the development works done by these contractors start crumbling immediately after the construction while the competent authorities are issuing NOCs to such contractors without confirming and checking the quality of the material according to approved standard for work defined under the relevant laws.
They said that most contractors are using substandard material in connivance with the higher authorities or they are doing so deliberately under the shelter of some influential persons and with the support of political figures because most of the contractors are their blue-eyed. The government would have to rebuild or reconstruct almost all the projects in case the practice of using substandard material remains unchecked by the competent authorities and billions of rupees are being wasted in the name of development work.