Transfer of ownership of 400 roads for integrated dev soon

The government has taken a decision to upgrade and change road classification and transfer ownership of over 400 roads in the country aiming to remove complicacies in integrated development.
Sources said these roads belong to different government agencies under the local government, road transport and bridges and railway ministries.
They said the move will help resolve complexities created due to complaints made by different quarters in carrying out integrated development of the roads.
On grounds of common boundaries or importance of locality, the agencies either claimed many roads or wanted to shift responsibility of some roads to other agencies.
The agencies are Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and Local Government Institute (LGI).
As a result, development plans for such roads could not be implemented in due time.
The government has taken a move to upgrade the road infrastructure across the country, mostly conversion of the national highways into international standards and widen regional highways to cope with the volume of increased traffic.
However, a standing committee was formed under the supervision of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Department to set things in motion.
Sources said the standing committee sat recently and took the decision to change or transfer the ownership of 412 roads through a circular issued on May 14, 2003 by the Planning Commission.
As per the decision, the ownership of more than 700-kilometre road has been changed.
Nearly 300-km LGED road located in Moulvibazar, Jamalpur, Thakurgaon, Dinajpur, Khulna, Narail, Bagerhat, Narayanganj, Kurigram, Gaibandha and Bandarban would go to RHD, said an official.
Chasara-Khanpur-Hajiganj-Godnail-Adamjee-EPZ road which belonged to Bangladesh Railway will now be owned by RHD, he added.
Six district roads have been upgraded to regional highways in Rajshahi, Natore, Kurigram and Gaibandha areas.
"With this, nearly 300-km road would also go to RHD," he said.
Some 45-km Modhupur-Garobazar-Sagardighi-Sakhipur road has also been shifted to RHD from LGED.
Five-kilometre road in Keraniganj, 9-km road in Nawabganj and 1-km road in Kumarkhali road have been proposed for LGED.
Some rural roads have also been changed into classification of district roads transferring the ownership of LGED to RHD. These roads include 9-km Iswardi-Uchakhila road and 10-km Ahmadabad Bazar-Trishal road.
The name of Roumari Customs Station road has been changed to Roumari-Tura road as it is connected with Roumari land port.
Thanchi-Rimakori-Modok-Likri road will be upgraded to district highway under RHD.
However, the changes and transfer of the roads would take effect from the date of gazette notification.

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