The long-awaited Road Maintenance Fund for carrying out necessary maintenance and repair work of the country's road network is yet to be formed though an act in this regard was passed three years ago.
The Jatiyo Sangsad (JS) passed the Road Maintenance Fund Board Bill on July 14, 2013 for creating an approximately Tk 20-billion fund for proper maintenance and renovation of roads under the Roads and Highways Department (RHD). Formation of a 13-member board was also recommended for spending the fund.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader in the JS session said it would take more than six months to implement the fund.
But, sources concerned said no progress has been made so far to form the fund and make it functional. The board is not yet formed, and related guideline on the fund is not prepared.
Officials blamed the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for not providing a code to deposit all the related tolls and fees etc for the exclusive fund.
Since the Road Maintenance Fund Board bill was passed, the Road Transport and Highways Division of the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (MoRTB), in a circular published on November 20, declared 'effectiveness' of the fund from December 1 on the same year.
It also sent a letter to MoF to provide a code, so that all related non-tax revenues from RHD and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) in the form of road tax, motor vehicle tax, motor fitness fees, route permit, registration and license fees, road cutting and utility fees, and road penalties etc can be deposited to it.
The Road Fund is supposed to be managed by an autonomous board, comprising six representatives from both public and private sectors respectively.
Secretaries of road, rail and bridge divisions, members of the infrastructure department of the Planning Commission, and heads of BRTA and RHD, a professor of civil engineering department of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), and presidents of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) are to be board members.
Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary M A N Siddique said due to not getting the code from MoF, the fund cannot be made truly functional.
He, however, said RHD gets around Tk 13-14 billion from MoF by placing demands against the fund by watching deposit of money from the related sources.
The secretary also admitted that the Road Fund board is also not formed in proper sense, but it is functioning in an improvised form.
The MoF sources said the code for the fund could not be provided due to technical complications.
The country has over 22,000 kilometres of roads under RHD, and a significant portion of the roads turned deplorable after 2010. The engineers blamed inadequate allotment of fund for road repair and maintenance work for the situation.
Road Fund is now a popular concept in many countries across the world to carry out road network development, repair and maintenance work. There was pressure from the development partners to form such a fund in the country.
