$300m WB loan for road maintenance
The World Bank (WB) will grant a soft loan of US$ 300 million to Local Government and Engineering Department (LGED) to implement a road maintenance project under the Rural Transport Improvement-II (RTIP-II) project in the next fiscal.
WB aims to develop the best practices in road building and maintenance in the country under the project, which is a component of Performance Based Contract for Road Maintenance and Management.
Under the system, the contractor concerned will have to carry on the necessary maintenance works for five years following the construction or reconstruction of a road.
The contractor will have to repair any pothole or crack within 24 to 72 hours of report or else he will lose part of his payment.
In case of conventional contract, the contractor builds roads and maintains those for a year and then quits the project.
When contacted, LGED Chief Engineer Md Wahidur Rahman said LGED has been working to prepare the project.
Initially, the contract would be implemented in 10 districts of RTIP-II project area to maintain a total of 450 kilometers of road, he said.
LGED sources said the project's implementation will start in the next fiscal year.
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