Allocations for road, railway will increase, bridges decrease

Budget 2022-23Prothom Alo illustration

The government has increased allocations for the road transport sector in the proposed budget, in a bid to meet the expenses of the ongoing projects, including metro rail, flyovers and highway upgradation.

The allocations for the railways also went up due to a number of ongoing projects under the 30-year mega plan that were undertaken to bring all the districts under the railway connectivity.

However, the bridges division will operate with a reduced allocation in the next fiscal.

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal made these proposals during his budget speech in the parliament on Thursday.

The construction work of Padma Bridge and Karnafuli tunnel is at the final stage and this is why costs of these projects are gradually declining. The bridges division officials say their expenditures will decline in the next fiscal as they have no more projects in the pipeline. It prompted the finance minister to reduce the allocation.

In the proposed budget, an allocation of Tk 312.96 billion has been made in favour of the road transport and highways division, which is 12.7 per cent of the total development budget. Some Tk 280.42 billion was proposed for the sector in the outgoing fiscal.

This division takes care of the construction of highways and maintenance of important roads. Besides, it builds bridges with a maximum stretch of 1.5 km.

Tk 149.29 billion for railway

Considering the importance of the railway as comfortable, affordable, safe and low-cost transport for passengers and goods, finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has proposed Tk 149.29 billion for the railways ministry in the national budget for fiscal 2022-23. The amount is 6.1 per cent of the total development allocation.

In the outgoing fiscal, the government allocated Tk 135.58 billion for the sector.

In his speech on Thursday, the finance minister said the government has taken a number of steps to ensure balanced and integrated development of the sector.

A rail track is being installed to connect Dhaka with Jashore via the Padma Bridge while work is underway to construct another railway from Chattogram to Cox’s Bazar, he noted.