People and vehicles move through dilapidated Medical College Road in the Sylhet city when renovation of most city roads fails deadlines. — New Age photo

The Sylhet City Corporation could not complete the ongoing project to expand and reconstruct eight main roads in the city within the stipulated time of the past fiscal year because of fund crisis.
The unfinished roads are causing serious sufferings to the city people, complained residents of different city areas.
The corporation authorities, instead of asking the construction firms concerned to complete the project work within the stipulated period, have extended the time to more three to six months because fund shortage, SCC sources said.
The contractors are not interested to complete the works fearing loss because of increase in prices of construction materials, sources in the construction firms said.
The official sources said the SCC authorities had taken initiative to expand and reconstruct the road stretch from Naiyarpul to Zindabazar, Zindabazar to Lamabazar, Mirza Jangal to Taltala, Rikabibazar via Osmani Medical College Road to Bagbari, Ambarkhana-Barabaza to Khasdabir, Shahjalal Upa-Shahar to Shibganj, Jail Road to Kazitula, Alia Madrassah to Mirer Maidan Road in the last financial year involving an estimated budget of Tk 18 crore.
Work of the project, which was supposed to be financed by the Asian Development Bank, began in February and was scheduled to be completed by June 30. 
But the project implementation was delayed for not getting sufficient fund from donor organisation, the sources said.
Meanwhile, a good number of city dwellers alleged that the constructors were not doing the work properly for absence of regular monitoring by the SCC officials.
‘The contractors are doing irregularities in the work at different places,’ Shah Nur, a schoolteacher of Mirabazar in the city, claimed.
Locals said the contractors concerned were not preparing for carpeting the under-construction roads in the city, though sands and stones were piled up on the roads for several weeks. 
‘Doing the work in accordance with the schedule is not possible as prices of the construction materials have increased several times after getting the work order of the project,’ a contractor said.
He said the contractor were doing the work slowly fearing that the bills might be kept unpaid after completing the work, as the city corporation did not get sufficient fund in the fiscal year.
SCC chief engineer Nur Azizur Rahman told New Age on Saturday that they had already got allegation against the contractors regarding not working properly as par the schedule.
‘The deadlines to complete the construction works of the roads have been extended because of not getting sufficient allocations from the finance ministry and Asian Development Bank in the running fiscal year,’ he said.