Developing the Bangladesh Railway

---

EVER since the creation of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Railway (BR) was treated in a step-motherly way. Nearly 85 per cent of the public development budget in the transportation sector was spent on developing the road networks. This fund denial for development plus the fact that reform activities were hardly carried out in the BR, have created this situation. The BR has become a sick entity when ironically it should have been the favourite medium of transportation for different stakeholders and for its other in-built advantages.
For example, expansion of railway networks involves less land acquisition than for building roads. This is a big plus point in a land-scarce country. Railways are also safer than roads where nearly 2.0 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) are lost annually from road accidents. Railways also generate significantly less pollution than roads and are, thus, environment-friendly. Especially, as the bulk carrier of goods, commercially, railways provide the cheapest mode of haulage of goods for business operators. Transportation of containers by rail from Dhaka to Chittagong, for instance, is found to be substantially lower than such transportation by lorries through roads.
Considering all these factors, railway's development should be a top priority for the government. Apart from channelling greater public funds for the BR's development, government should take prompt actions to utilise external assistance which are on offer from different donors bodies for the same purpose. Simultaneously, the BR should be turned into a corporate body with the government not giving up control over it and at the same time keeping its relation with the government on more flexible terms by leaving its day-to-day operations to autonomous but accountable officials so that decision-making and running of the new corporate entity can be done on commercial lines.
Humayun Kabir
Mohammadpur
Dhaka