Road repair under scanner

The way the issue of road repair has come into focus gives the mistaken impression that it is a job that has to be carried out weeks or days before Eid festivals. Roads or highways do not suddenly fall into disrepair. Then why do they make big news prior to the Eid celebrations? The reason is quite understandable. Millions head home or for other desirable destinations and the rush on roads and highways becomes several times heavier than in normal times. The rush will become still heavier in the years to come. But is not it a sheer naivety to leave the lion's share of the burden of Eid journeys on road communication instead of looking for a paradigm shift now? Even in normal time, roads and highways are under heavy pressure. Better it would be to focus on the railway.
It may not be wrong to think that vehicles on roads and highways have more than reached their saturation point. There is hardly any option other than expanding and improving the rail communication for it to take the premier position. Therefore, investment in railway has to be large. Until that happens, the maintenance of roads and highways will have to be given the priority it deserves. Contrary to seasonal repair work, it is a routine work for which there should be adequate allocation. Reportedly, lack of adequate allocation has been responsible for the deplorable road condition. Road carpeting and re-carpeting should be done routinely before they are badly damaged. Some patchworks are also required at times to maintain smooth traffic flow. But if either of these are neglected or cannot be undertaken simply because of lack of fund, potholes and large sections of dilapidated roads unworthy of traffic movement are exposed. In the rainy season the condition becomes further aggravated. Unfortunately, for the last couple of years Eid has coincided with the rainy season and it will do so for a few monsoons more.
Now that the issue of inadequate fund has come to the fore, there is a need for a dispassionate appraisal of the road repair. Why an unusually active communication minister has to be embarrassed for not living up to his promise should be looked into. There was problem with the Chinese company responsible for converting the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway into four lanes. Any such expansion work causes some temporary inconveniences for traffic movement. This is understandable. But how can the majority of roads and highways together expose their damaged skeleton all on a sudden? That the minister concerned sat on the issue of repair work is unlikely. So agile and concerned, he might have been made to swallow the bitter pill for others' fault. If this is just a conjecture, let it be proved so. The people have a right to know where things went wrong or missing. If fund constraint is the cause or the sustainability of roads and highways had been suspect right from the beginning, the facts should be made public. After all, it is not unusual that use of inferior construction materials and poor quality repair work reduce the life span of bridges, culverts and road carpeting.