$200m ADB loans to improve rural roads

Asian Development Bank (ADB) is going to give Bangladesh $200 million in loans to help improve the country's rural road network.

Monowar Ahmed, secretary to the Economic Relations Division (ERD), and ADB Country Director Manmohan Parkash yesterday signed the loan agreement at a ceremony in Dhaka.

“The assistance supports the government's priority of delivering urban services in rural areas by increasing connectivity, providing greater access to social services and markets, and promoting the agriculture sector, benefitting over 51.5 million people,” said Parkash.

“It will also improve transport efficiency, generate 3.13 million person-days employment, introduce high-level technology to enhance road master planning, and create road safety awareness among rural population.”

The assistance will support the government's Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RCIP), upgrading about 1,700 kilometres of rural roads in 34 districts of five divisions to all-weather standards, according to an ADB statement.

The ADB said the project would also improve the capacity of the rural infrastructure agency for rural road development and enhance rural road master planning.

The GIS technology will help identify agricultural value chains, road conditions and mechanisms for allocating priorities, optimising the use of available resources for effective rural road network planning and improvement.

The roads will be designed with safety features, including signage, guard posts and speed breakers.

They will also adopt climate resilient designs incorporating features such as elevated paving, drainage, road foundations and earthworks to significantly reduce maintenance.

The roads will be covered under contractual maintenance for five years after the date of construction on a pilot basis. The project also prioritises repair of roads damaged by flashfloods in 2017.

The project will provide training to Local Government Engineering Department on road and financial management, road safety, climate resilient design and construction, improving road users' awareness and enhancing women's skills on road construction and maintenance.

An ADB technical assistance grant of $1 million will support these activities.

Over 2,400 women were consulted in the project area during project design and they appreciated that it will give them more access to economic opportunities and services, according to the ADB statement.

The ADB said only about 40 percent of the rural population in Bangladesh has access to all-weather roads and these roads make up only 28 percent of the total length of rural roads in the country.

The total cost of the project, which is due for completion in November 2023, is $285.31 million. The ADB will provide a concessional loan of $100 million and a regular loan of $100 million. The government will provide the remaining $85.31 million.