Minister for spl body to resolve problems with bid-winners
Friday, 1 October 2010
Munima Sultana
The communications minister directed the RHD Wednesday to form a special committee to suggest the government possible ways to resolve unexpected problems with the bid-winners while implementing the important projects like Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway.
The directive came after the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has detected severe damages at the right alignment of the existing Dhaka-Chittagong highway, before a Chinese and two local companies start its widening.
Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain came down on the RHD for not maintaining the country's important arteries regularly, and said repair cost of these highways would not have been higher if those were done properly in time.
He was presiding over the 19th meeting of National Highway Safety Council at his ministry conference room. Council members - from the cabinet, ministries of home, information, forest and environment, Bangladesh Police, Local Government Department, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, Dhaka City Corporation, Dhaka Transport Coordination Board and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkhya - attended the meeting.
Representatives from Bangladesh bus, truck owners and workers association and federation were also present.
The RHD representative informed the meeting that alleged irregularities in road maintenance happened due to scarcity of fund, as the department always received much lower budget than its requirement.
Syed Abul Hossain said following lack of maintenance, the government has been in a dilemma now to repair the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, as the bid-winners are supposed to overlay the existing two lanes only.
"We have to find solution to resolve the problem, as hike in tender work payment is very sensitive and often a matter of government criticism," he said.
He also suggested that the proposed special committee, comprising experts from all of the related departments, would guide the government to resolve important tender-related difficulties of the important projects at the time of their implementation.
The meeting, held after a 14-month gap instead of its six-month gap schedule, also discussed various road safety issues, including highway accident control, law and order situation, prioritising the maintenance and repair of national, regional and district highways, training of drivers and conducting awareness campaign throughout the country.
The meeting decided to ban the import of hydraulic horn to reduce sound pollution and stop plying of unauthorised vehicles like battery-operated vehicles on the highways.
It also directed the BRTA and Ministry of Information to produce effective video clippings to make people aware of the adverse impact of rule-breaking on the streets.
BRTA has requested the concerned departments to ensure the presence of the representatives of additional district magistrate and civil surgeon at field-level license issuance committees to stop issuing fake licences.
The meeting also decided to start the November drive on time and continue joint drive to check plying of the age-old vehicles on the streets.
The communications minister directed the RHD Wednesday to form a special committee to suggest the government possible ways to resolve unexpected problems with the bid-winners while implementing the important projects like Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane highway.
The directive came after the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has detected severe damages at the right alignment of the existing Dhaka-Chittagong highway, before a Chinese and two local companies start its widening.
Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain came down on the RHD for not maintaining the country's important arteries regularly, and said repair cost of these highways would not have been higher if those were done properly in time.
He was presiding over the 19th meeting of National Highway Safety Council at his ministry conference room. Council members - from the cabinet, ministries of home, information, forest and environment, Bangladesh Police, Local Government Department, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, Dhaka City Corporation, Dhaka Transport Coordination Board and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkhya - attended the meeting.
Representatives from Bangladesh bus, truck owners and workers association and federation were also present.
The RHD representative informed the meeting that alleged irregularities in road maintenance happened due to scarcity of fund, as the department always received much lower budget than its requirement.
Syed Abul Hossain said following lack of maintenance, the government has been in a dilemma now to repair the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, as the bid-winners are supposed to overlay the existing two lanes only.
"We have to find solution to resolve the problem, as hike in tender work payment is very sensitive and often a matter of government criticism," he said.
He also suggested that the proposed special committee, comprising experts from all of the related departments, would guide the government to resolve important tender-related difficulties of the important projects at the time of their implementation.
The meeting, held after a 14-month gap instead of its six-month gap schedule, also discussed various road safety issues, including highway accident control, law and order situation, prioritising the maintenance and repair of national, regional and district highways, training of drivers and conducting awareness campaign throughout the country.
The meeting decided to ban the import of hydraulic horn to reduce sound pollution and stop plying of unauthorised vehicles like battery-operated vehicles on the highways.
It also directed the BRTA and Ministry of Information to produce effective video clippings to make people aware of the adverse impact of rule-breaking on the streets.
BRTA has requested the concerned departments to ensure the presence of the representatives of additional district magistrate and civil surgeon at field-level license issuance committees to stop issuing fake licences.
The meeting also decided to start the November drive on time and continue joint drive to check plying of the age-old vehicles on the streets.