The ministry of communication (MoC) has taken a fresh initiative to carry out development and maintenance work of its road network involving Tk 10 billion after it failed to complete such kinds of projects during the last few years.
The Road Division under the ministry has already started working on preparing the development project proposals (DPPs) dividing the work into 10 zones to cover the entire district roads of the country.
Sources said each of the zones will get Tk 1.0 billion for carrying out the work identifying the road condition.
However, the Road Division, at a recent meeting with Roads and Highways Department (RHD), took the decision to include the roads whose maintenance was supposed to be covered in two other projects which could not be completed for some reasons.
The projects were Tk 14 billion Emergency Road Maintenance Project and Tk 20 billion District Road Development Project.
The sources said these two projects had to be closed before completing entire work of development and maintenance in 2012.
The MoC took up the Emergency Road Maintenance Project amid criticism of the deplorable condition of roads and highways through different media reports in 2011.
The RHD dropped the District Road Development Project due to its inability to complete the assigned maintenance work.
An RHD official, however, said both the projects were to be closed before completion as they were not provided with enough fund in time.
For that reason, the new project was taken up to finish the remaining work so that road network at district level could be maintained properly.
When asked about inclusion of other roads in the new project, the official said the zonal office will conduct survey and recommend for the fund for those roads which would need further development.
Refuting the allegation that roads are turning bad due to absence of proper maintenance work, he said condition of many roads has deteriorated for delay in fund allotment that caused hindrance to continuation of work, and that is why fresh projects are required to be taken.
However, the MoC tried to revive the Emergency Road Maintenance Project during the last fiscal year on the grounds of realising dues of the contractors who worked soon after the project was taken up and no allotment was given.
The District Road Maintenance Project was also a follow-up project taken since 1984.
The sources said though the RHD has taken fresh steps to carry out the maintenance work, there has been no feasibility study of the road condition throughout the country.
The RHD has over 3,500 km national highways and 4,000 regional highways but its zila road network is biggest with 13,500 km network, mostly constructed in the 80s.
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