Government should prioritise road maintenance work
We are quite surprised to learn that the government has allocated only Tk 2,550 crore for the repair and maintenance of all roads and bridges across the country, whereas the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) says that they need around Tk 10,679 crore in the current fiscal year to fix the roads that are in bad condition. An RHD survey has found that 25 percent of roads under its supervision are in "poor, bad or very bad" condition. According to them, while only minor repair work can improve the conditions of many of these roads, if done in time, the same roads would need major repair if they are left in bad conditions for long. This also means that a huge amount of money would be wasted because of the delay in the repair work.
In recent years, the government has undertaken several mega projects to improve the road networks across the country. New bridges, flyovers and overpasses are being built to ease traffic movement across the country, which is commendable. Already three new bridges on the Meghna, Gumti and Shitalakhya rivers are in operation which have mitigated the sufferings of the commuters on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway to some extent. In 2018, the government took up five mega projects involving Tk 3,368.21 crore for developing and widening district roads in five of the eight zones in the country, the work of which is ongoing. However, from the budget allocated for road repairs in this fiscal, what we understand is that the government has not given due importance to the road maintenance work.
Thus, the government needs to make appropriate budgetary allocations for the repair and maintenance of the roads. Routine maintenance of roads has to be done properly and should get priority in budget. Otherwise, all the new bridges and overpasses, and the mega projects will fail to yield the desired result.
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