Are high-quality roads too much to ask for?

We agree with roads and highways officials and experts who have recently said that the lack of proper road infrastructure is a major hindrance to Bangladesh becoming a developed country. It is a known fact that the cost of per kilometre road construction in Bangladesh is the highest in the world while the quality of roads being constructed is extremely poor. Not only that, many of the existing roads are in an abysmal condition despite so much money being spent on maintenance. In the last nine years, according to a leading Bangla daily, Tk 11,000 crore was spent on maintenance of roads and a whopping Tk 46,500 crore has recently been allocated for the same purpose. Despite thousands of crores of taxpayers' money being spent on road maintenance, 4,750km of roads remain in bad condition.

Poor planning, design, implementation and use of low-quality materials, among other things, are largely to blame for the sorry state of our road infrastructure. And we hope that the authorities understand the various implications of the lack of proper road infrastructure. Firstly, this is costing us potential foreign investment. Secondly, how can we expect to continue our growth momentum without proper road infrastructure and adequate road network? Bangladesh needs 80,000km of roads whereas currently the road network constitutes only 21,000km.

How much longer are we going to keep wasting public money in the name of cost overruns and project delays instead of addressing the myriad systemic flaws, i.e. improper planning and design, inefficiency in project implementation and rampant corruption? Furthermore, the fact that roads are being constructed upon political considerations does not help. It is time that policymakers realised the need to put public interest first and began addressing these issues because at the current snail's pace of development of road infrastructure, our growth momentum may be difficult to sustain.