When old is not gold

'Build new, forget about the old ones' seems to be the guiding principle of the public sector development programme. That the government is pursuing this principle quite religiously is very much evident from the allocations it makes in the annual national budget for the maintenance and repair of the existing physical infrastructure, including roads, highways, bridges and culverts. The public sector utility service providers are found equally uninterested in the maintenance and repair of their respective service lines and other facilities that concern public interest.
A Bengali contemporary in a report quoting the results of a recent survey conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) said 86 per cent of the money spent on the development infrastructure is consumed by new projects. Only 12 per cent of the fund is spent on the maintenance and repair of the existing ones.
The BBS survey has noted that the government in the financial year 2012-13 had spent Tk 303.54 billion on construction works. Of the amount, about Tk 100 billion was earmarked for the construction of buildings of different sizes and Tk 150 billion for new roads and highways. Only Tk 30 was spent on the repair and maintenance of infrastructure.
Such a low level of spending on repair and maintenance of old infrastructure does not only reduce the normal lifespan of innumerable government infrastructure projects but also causes sufferings to the users of the same.
It is no surprise that almost everyone in the government, lawmakers, ruling party workers and supporters at the grassroots and contractors are interested in new infrastructure projects, not in maintenance and repair of the existing ones. Why? The implementation of the latter involves small amounts and they are not worth making efforts. New projects offer better scope to make money by almost everyone involved.
The ministers, lawmakers and the ruling party honchos are found pursing infrastructure projects for their respective localities. In addition to distributing favour to their supporters, getting new projects implemented is thought to be a positive gain in terms of future electoral battle. However, the opportunity to derive pecuniary benefits in particular does make everybody interested in new infrastructure projects. Moreover, implementation delays create scope of gaining more because delays entail cost escalation of projects. Such delays, particularly in the case of large and cost-intensive projects, of late, have become more of a routine affair.  
The country does have enough of roads and highways, bridges and culverts. Barring a few districts, all other areas are well-connected with the capital Dhaka through railway. There are thousands of primary and secondary schools and colleges that are enough to meet educational needs of the people. Yet the relevant offices are continuously receiving requests for setting up new ones. Corridors of the relevant offices remain crowded with people doing 'tadbir' (lobbying) for getting their prayers approved. Men in authority do also make recommendations in a bid to keep their support bases strong.
As stated above, not many requests come to the relevant agencies about the repair and maintenance of roads, highways or any other physical infrastructure. There is also a reason for lack of interest among the people about repair and maintenance since the agencies concerned do not entertain such requests for they do not have any fund for the purpose. Some agencies do get some fund, but that is highly insufficient compared to the requirement.
But the fact remains that the government would have saved billions of taka if it could do the necessary repair and maintenance of its own infrastructure, including roads, highways, railway tracks, bridges and culverts, educational institutions and warehouses in time.
The apathy towards the maintenance and repair work has been taking a heavy financial toll on the economy. In addition, for lack of repair and maintenance, many infrastructures are now in a pitiable state. These facilities also have been causing sufferings to the common people.
What is more disheartening is the quality of maintenance and repair work done by the government appointed contractors. It has always been a problem to get any government facility repaired. Non-availability of funds is cited as the prime reason for this by most agencies. If any agency allocates fund for repair work most part of it is eaten up by the contractors concerned and other local influential people. The quality of repair usually remains very poor and the facility goes back to original state within days after the repair.
The problem with repair and maintenance is an old issue. Experts and donor agencies on a number of occasions in the past had drawn the attention of the government policymakers. But the situation has not changed. It is hard to tell why the government is not interested to maintain and repair its own facilities and lengthen their longevity.
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