Why hurry for road repair now?

"Hurry spoils the curry" is a proverb and it looks like our policy-makers do not agree with the inherent message. If not, the dynamic communications minister would give a second thought before ordering the ministry officials and engineers to repair all roads and highways across the country, including those in the capital Dhaka by July 20. Such directives might have the startling appeal, but we are afraid it will be difficult to implement them. City corporation representatives present in the meeting promised to repair the roads in the city within the stipulated time set by the minister but it is sure they will face their 'Waterloo' in doing so.
Despite introduction of the modern mechanical process, road construction and repair still involve physical labour and there is no shortcut to doing that. It needs time. Due to the ongoing monsoon, the work may be hampered after every spell of incessant rainfall. In that case, how will the workers and engineers maintain the timeframe? Again, there are the official formality and procedure like bidding and selection of contractors for doing the construction work by spending public money. These are all time-consuming exercises. No doubt, construction or repair of roads involves a big amount of money.  Failure to follow the procedures will invite audit objection.
Barring all these, if the repair and maintenance work on the roads and highways are done within the timeframe given by the minister, there is the apprehension that the work will be done half-heartedly only to comply with the directives of the authority. Strict supervision of the work may not be possible. A hurriedly done work lacks perfection. So will be the condition of the roads repaired hurriedly. The quality of work will not be in the focus and the money spent will go to waste. They will have to repair them again in the near future, maybe, at the end of the monsoon. Where will the fund come from then? Execution of development work at a quick pace may also create an opportunity for the evil-doers involved in the process to defalcate public money in the name of emergency work.
Eid does not come all on a sudden-it is a regular event, the time of which is specified on the calendar. Monsoon also comes at a certain stage of the climatic cycle. Planners could think of the necessity well in advance and initiate road repair and maintenance work well on time. This could save the 'curry' from being spoiled due to hurried cooking. The common people can expect minimum farsightedness and foresight from our planners and engineers. The minister also could have given the ultimatum well in advance. We believe there is no dearth of sincerity of the minister or of the government. They really mean to mitigate the sufferings of the common people. But any decision to bring welfare of the people must be well-thought-out.
There is no end to sufferings of the people, not only with the dilapidated conditions of the roads. They continue to face multifarious problems, not only while going back to villages during Eid holidays. They are facing the bad conditions of the city streets during the rest of the period also. No doubt, all public sufferings and problems need to be redressed; but responding to problems on an ad-hoc or contingency basis can bring no permanent solution. People have waited and let them wait a few more days. The work should be done perfectly. A large number of city dwellers will be out of town during Eid, so fewer people will suffer due to the poor road condition. It is better even if it takes some more days, the road repair should be done perfectly. This will bring the long-term benefit for the city-dwellers.