Amphan, Flood Damage: Govt to spend Tk 5,905cr to repair roads

The government is going to take up a Tk 5,905-crore project to repair rural roads and fix infrastructure damaged by Cyclone Amphan, floods and heavy rains this year.

The three-year project, which will be implemented with the government's own funds, is expected to be placed at today's meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval.

The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) of the LGRD ministry will implement it by December 2023.

"The objective of the scheme is to fix and maintain rural road network and also save transportation cost and time. The roads, bridges and culverts that got damaged by Cyclone Amphan and floods will be repaired," according to the project documents.

Once the project is completed, it will help facilitate trade, create direct and indirect employment in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and boost the rural economy, said the documents.

Cyclone Amphan, formed in the Bay of Bengal, hit the south-western coastal districts on May 20, causing severe damage to the road communication system.

The cyclone affected 69 upazilas of 14 districts in Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram and Dhaka divisions. The project will cover those areas.

In late June, the country started experiencing severe floods.

According to the meteorological department, the country saw the second longest spell of flooding this year since 1998, when floods lasted 63 days.

This time, the duration of floods was 61 days -- from July 27 to September 30. The prolonged floods damaged many roads, bridges and culverts.

Project documents mention that floods hit 182 upazilas of 28 districts in Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Chattogram divisions. All these areas will be covered under the project.

Moreover, the country witnessed around 50 percent more rainfall in the first nine months of this year, compared to the average rainfall in the corresponding period in the last 30 years.

Meteorological department data shows that on average, 363.621 millimetres of rainfall was recorded in the country between January and September.

The project documents say heavy rains damaged roads, bridges and culverts in 139 upazilas of 22 districts in Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka, Mymensingh and Chattogram divisions. The project will cover these areas.

The LGED prepared the project, incorporating data from public representatives across the country.

Under the project, 6,148 km roads across the country will be repaired.

Besides, 78 km of RCC (roller-compacted concrete) roads will be repaired, and 268 bridges (4,631.85 metres) and 239 culverts (692.37 metres) will be reconstructed.

Trees will be planted on both sides of 328 km roads under the project, say the documents.

Vetting the project, the Planning Commission observed that it will play an important role in fixing rural infrastructure damaged by the cyclone, floods and heavy rains, and also help boost economic activities in these districts.

Four more development projects involving over Tk 2,600 crore are likely to be placed at today's Ecnec meeting. The project areas are in Gaibandha, Barishal, Pirojpur, Jhalakathi, Khulna and Jamalpur. All those will be implemented with the government's own funds.