WB approves $425m to improve rural bridges in Bangladesh
The World Bank yesterday approved $425 million to improve road connections in Bangladesh through building, maintaining and improving rural bridges that will benefit two-thirds of the country's people.
The operation for supporting rural bridges programme will maintain 85,000 metres of bridges, widen or rehabilitate 29,000 metres and build another 20,000 metres of new bridges in 61 districts, said the Washington-based global lending agency.
The programme will also create jobs for locals by generating about 5.5 million person-day of employment, including long-term maintenance work. The programme will support the government's existing one for developing and maintaining rural bridges.
“By bridging the missing links in Bangladesh's rural road network, the programme will enable rural communities living in remote areas to have better road connections,” said Qimiao Fan, World Bank country director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.
Bangladesh has a higher road density -- the ratio of the total road length to the country's land area -- than any other South Asian country.
As Bangladesh's flat terrain is crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, bridges play a crucial part in the country's road system. For every 4.5km of roads in unions or upazilas, a bridge is needed to connect two disjointed road sections. And while Bangladesh enjoys an extensive rural road network, one-fifth of the rural bridges needed are not built yet.
In 19 coastal districts, the project will construct or rebuild bridges to include climate resilient features. “The programme will support government efforts to improve institutional capacity to plan, design, quality control and manage rural bridges, including to ensure they are climate resilient along coastal areas,” said Farhad Ahmed, World Bank senior transport specialist and team leader for the programme.
The credit from the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) has a 30-year term, including a five-year grace period.