Holding RHD accountable

We laud two of our ministers for their critical assessment of the reasons behind the poor state of roads that lead to immense public suffering. Not only did they blast the officials of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) for their poor planning and maintenance of roads, they came prepared with presentations and cited specific examples in their respective constituencies to get their point across. All this happened at a recent seminar organised by RHD at the planning ministry.

What is positive about this seminar is that the RHD officials and the ministers pointed out the bottlenecks in the process of maintenance—important pointers that can be used for future planning.

While engineers and other officials of the RHD highlighted overloading of vehicles, shortage of funds for road maintenance and lack of manpower and poor drainage system as the main factors, the two ministers brought up the crucial issues of faulty road design and basic mismanagement flaws. The state minister showed photos of an overpass without a necessary ramp, a bridge where tolls are collected haphazardly, buses stopping in the middle of the road and a pillar of a bridge blocking a canal. His statement: "we are the challenges" alluded to the inefficiency of the RDH. The finance minister was also very critical about the RHD's role and gave the example of the poor state of roads in his own constituency—Cumilla. He expressed his frustration regarding the inability of the RHD to introduce a modern system of toll plazas, which he had asked the secretary of the body to do at least 30 times.

Such discussions are indeed crucial for solving a problem as immediate as the sorry state of our roads. We appreciate the strong stand taken by these two ministers and feel that this meeting has brought forth the core flaws in the system. Preventing overloading, modification of vehicles, proper road designing, continued repair of roads, modern system of toll collection and preventing buses from stopping at points other than designated bus stops are certainly the first steps that could make a world of difference in road longevity. We hope that such frank and productive discussions between ministers, departmental officials and experts continue and that the solutions are taken seriously.