Khulna Shipyard Road Project: ACC Files Two Cases Against Two Contractors and Six Engineers

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has filed two cases over alleged irregularities in the Khulna Shipyard Road widening project. The cases name two contractors and six engineers of the Khulna Development Authority (KDA).

ACC assistant deputy director Ashikur Rahman filed the cases as plaintiff at the commission's Khulna integrated district office on Sunday (October 25).

One case alleges that a contractor was paid bills of Tk 1.55 crore without doing the work. The other alleges that money was released in a contractor's favour and Tk 11.19 crore was transferred to a revenue account.

The accused include Md Ataur Rahman, chairman of contracting firm Ataur Rahman Khan Limited, and Sheikh Mahbub Rahman, managing director of Mahabub Brothers Limited.

The KDA officials accused are chief engineer Kazi Sabirul Alam, former superintending engineer Shamim Jehad, project director Md Arman Hossain, executive engineer Muntasir Mamun, assistant engineer Basudeb Kumar Biswas and sub-assistant engineer Sharif Wahiduzzaman.

Criticism has arisen, however, because the KDA's then chairman, secretary, member (development) and member (administration) — who allegedly played a role behind the extra release of money to the contractor — were not named in the cases. Many are questioning the exclusion of the principal accused.

In the same incident, an inquiry committee formed by the Ministry of Housing and Public Works had recommended punitive action against 14 people, including three members. Departmental cases were filed against KDA member (development) S M Mahmudur Rahman, member (administration) Md Iqbal Hossain and former secretary Md Badiuzzaman at the Ministry of Public Administration, and against the other 11 at the KDA. But the ACC, after its own inquiry, excluded those three members as well.

KDA officials and contractors say that while work on the Shipyard Road was under way, the whole matter was overseen by the chairman and the members. According to them, most important decisions, starting from bills, were taken from the top level.

In June 2024, the chairman and the secretary ordered the preparation of bills of Tk 13 crore allocated for the project, and engineers below them prepared the bills on those instructions, KDA sources said. According to KDA documents, a bill file is approved in sequence from a lower-grade assistant to the chief engineer, then the member (engineering), the secretary, the member (administration and finance) and the chairman, after which the chairman and secretary jointly sign the bill.

Mamunur Rashid Chowdhury, deputy director of the ACC's Khulna district office, said the cases were filed after a preliminary inquiry. If anyone else's involvement is found during the investigation, they too will be made accused, he said.

Sardar Abu Taher, co-chairman of the Khulna Metropolitan Citizens' Forum, said the whole matter is regrettable. People have suffered for 13 long years, he said, demanding exemplary legal action against everyone involved in the Shipyard Road irregularities and corruption, with a fresh inquiry if necessary.

The Shipyard Road widening and development project was approved by ECNEC on May 7, 2013. The initial project cost was Tk 98 crore. Even after 13 long years the road's work has not finished; instead the cost has risen to Tk 280 crore.

The ACC raided the road on September 11, 2025. Seeing the slow pace of work, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman also ordered an inquiry. Two separate inquiries were completed last September.

Attention will now be on how fully the ACC's investigation of the two cases brings out the picture of the irregularities, and what is decided about the officials who were left out.