Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the authorities concerned on Tuesday to explore the possibility of imposing toll on key national highways and utilising the funds for maintenance of the road network.
She made the directive while presiding over a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in Dhaka.
The ECNEC meeting approved installation of axle load control centres on the highways at a cost of Tk 16.30 billion (1,630 crore).
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) will set up the axle load control centres at 21 points on important highways of the country.
After the ECNEC meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan quoted the Prime Minister as saying that the authorities should start thinking of imposing toll on vehicles plying national highways.
He said the Prime Minister talked about imposing toll not only for using bridges but also for the national highways like those linking Dhaka with Chattogram, Dhaka with Rangpur, Dhaka with Sylhet and Dhaka with Khulna.
The Planning Minister said the Prime Minister told the meeting that the toll could be used for maintenance of the national highways.
The RHD collects toll only from the Hatikamrul-Bonpara road in the country.
The ECNEC meeting approved 10 development projects at an aggregate cost of Tk 63.26 billion (6,326 crore).
Mr Mannan said out of the total cost, Tk 53.27 billion would come from internal sources and the remaining Tk 9.99 billion from the implementing agencies' own coffers.
The projects include one for repair and maintenance of the Dhaka-Chattogram highway at a cost of Tk 7.93 billion.
The RHD would do repair work on the newly-built four-lane road that developed cracks and got damaged, officials said.
The other projects include Upgradation of the Kurigram (Daserhat)-Bhurungamari-Senerhat Land Port Road to a national highway at a cost of Tk 6.85 billion, Expansion of Bhuapur-Tarakandi district highway involving Tk 3.07 billion, Strengthening the testing system of water at a cost of Tk 1.78 billion and construction of the Narsingdi district jail at a cost of Tk 3.26 billion.
It also approved the production and preservation of quality potato seeds and ensuring its distribution at the farmers' level at Tk 6.88 billion, expansion of club scouting in primary schools at Tk 3.55 billion, further development of Patuakhali Science and Technology University at Tk 4.51 billion and conversion of the 150MW Sylhet gas turbine power plant into a 225MW combined cycle power plant at Tk 9.10 billion.
Members of the Planning Commission and high officials of the relevant ministries were also present at the meeting.
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