Poor road conditions from improper maintenance
Saturday, 24 October 2009
Shibli Sadiq
Besides, delay in taking decisions and lack of coordination among the Ministry of Communication, Roads and Highway Department (RHD) and the Ministry of Finance lead to misuse of large public funds in the road construction sector.
A set of proposals for better roadways were reportedly placed by experts sometimes ago, in order to ensure smooth communication system. They suggested regular annual maintenance, strict monitoring of ‘weight control’ during movement of vehicles on roads and bridges and introduction of ‘Road Fund’ by realising money from vehicle users in fees, tolls and licence fees.
If the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) can be made an autonomous body, it, according to experts, would be able to take decisions quickly without involving the Ministry of Communication. The RHD should be directly linked to the Prime Minister’s office for better result, they felt.
Likewise the ‘Road Fund’ should only be utilised for road maintenance and managed by an independent body. This will reduce inexcusable inefficiencies and corruption.
It is time for Bangladesh to introduce ‘Road Fund’ as its road network is crumbling under the heave volume of vehicles. It is believe it’s much more cost-effective to do regular maintenance each year than carrying out some major reconstructions after five or ten years.
As the government is not maintaining the roads properly, we, as a country and as an economy, are losing about one million US dollar each day, just in terms of decreasing value of the roads themselves.
About the deteriorating condition of road network, it is to be noted that business in Bangladesh would become less competitive as transport costs will rise due to bad shape of roads and travel times become more difficult to predict.
Over one-fourth of district roads are in poor condition and that 16 Upazila headquarters are still not connected with the RHD road network by district roads. Underlying pavement strength of the majority of the regional roads remains poor.
Routine maintenance is not carried out properly on these roads and inadequate funds are allocated for the purpose. Unless routine maintenance is treated as priority, the costs of any rebuilding and periodic maintenance will be much increased.
There are reportedly about 15,000 structures on the RHD network, 715 of which have major structural damage and require full or partial replacement. And 2,600 more structures have major elemental damage, which need to be urgently addressed.
Overloading of trucks and buses, as the experts have noted, causes excessive damage to pavements, particularly on national and regional roads.
The government should improve the strength of national highways and regional roads, take up recovery programmes for district roads and ensure road safety.
The introduction of fully computerised and controlled toll collection can be considered.
Besides, delay in taking decisions and lack of coordination among the Ministry of Communication, Roads and Highway Department (RHD) and the Ministry of Finance lead to misuse of large public funds in the road construction sector.
A set of proposals for better roadways were reportedly placed by experts sometimes ago, in order to ensure smooth communication system. They suggested regular annual maintenance, strict monitoring of ‘weight control’ during movement of vehicles on roads and bridges and introduction of ‘Road Fund’ by realising money from vehicle users in fees, tolls and licence fees.
If the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) can be made an autonomous body, it, according to experts, would be able to take decisions quickly without involving the Ministry of Communication. The RHD should be directly linked to the Prime Minister’s office for better result, they felt.
Likewise the ‘Road Fund’ should only be utilised for road maintenance and managed by an independent body. This will reduce inexcusable inefficiencies and corruption.
It is time for Bangladesh to introduce ‘Road Fund’ as its road network is crumbling under the heave volume of vehicles. It is believe it’s much more cost-effective to do regular maintenance each year than carrying out some major reconstructions after five or ten years.
As the government is not maintaining the roads properly, we, as a country and as an economy, are losing about one million US dollar each day, just in terms of decreasing value of the roads themselves.
About the deteriorating condition of road network, it is to be noted that business in Bangladesh would become less competitive as transport costs will rise due to bad shape of roads and travel times become more difficult to predict.
Over one-fourth of district roads are in poor condition and that 16 Upazila headquarters are still not connected with the RHD road network by district roads. Underlying pavement strength of the majority of the regional roads remains poor.
Routine maintenance is not carried out properly on these roads and inadequate funds are allocated for the purpose. Unless routine maintenance is treated as priority, the costs of any rebuilding and periodic maintenance will be much increased.
There are reportedly about 15,000 structures on the RHD network, 715 of which have major structural damage and require full or partial replacement. And 2,600 more structures have major elemental damage, which need to be urgently addressed.
Overloading of trucks and buses, as the experts have noted, causes excessive damage to pavements, particularly on national and regional roads.
The government should improve the strength of national highways and regional roads, take up recovery programmes for district roads and ensure road safety.
The introduction of fully computerised and controlled toll collection can be considered.