The report titled 'Jashore-Khulna Road Lies Dilapidated Even After Tk 4b Repairs,' conducted by Prothom Alo's Jashore correspondent, addresses some important aspects.
The reporter engaged with various stakeholders, including the general public, road and highways engineers, contractors, drivers using the road, and researchers. The current state of the road could have been avoided if the comments and insights from all these stakeholders had been taken into consideration.
If good governance and accountability was there, a whopping Tk 4 billion from public funds would not have been spent on repair of the road on seven rounds in nine years. In a scenario with good governance and accountability, the government would investigate why the Jashore-Nawapara road quickly develops ruts shortly after being repaired.c
There are allegations that contractors benefit from the repair work, and the government could have examined whether the contractors are genuinely making a profit.
The report indicates that two contractors consistently secure tenders for repair work. One of the contractor firms is allegedly owned by an Awami League leader, while the other is the widely discussed Toma Construction.
There is a gross estimation that the government spends Tk 50 billion in repairing roads every year. The sector, however, was allocated a total of Tk 273 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal. This sector received the third-highest allocation this year too. The RHD is spending the funds as they wish.
Toma Construction’s officials said they are the only contractors who do not increase the repair cost of road. Does this claim infer that the engineers are also involved with inflating the spending? Not impossible.
Only some days ago, Prothom Alo’s Sunamganj correspondent reported that an engineer gave money to contractor violating laws before the work begins. Meanwhile the engineers and contractors are blaming truck drivers for the dilapidated condition of the road alleging that the latter carry more weights than the road’s capacity.
They said an axle load control station was set up at Chengutiya on the highway to contain overweights on the road, but it was deactivated in the face of objections from the truck drivers' association. It is only the public who bear the brunt of this flagrant mismanagement.
The news mentioned a survey report of World Economic Forum (WEF) published in 2018 on road condition of 134 countries. Bangladesh was ranked 113 in the report behind India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The World Bank report is also similar.
According to ‘World Bank Bangladesh Development Update 2019’, Bangladesh spent Tk 460 billion in construction and renovation of roads in nine years but Bangladesh is ahead of only Nepal in terms of the condition of roads among the countries in South Asia.
Nepal faces challenges with its road infrastructure due to the hilly terrain. In contrast, Bangladesh, with its predominantly flat landscape, has poorly maintained roads.
According to the World Bank, Bangladesh's road infrastructure scored 35.2 out of 100, whereas Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan scored 46.7, 57.4, and 49.1, respectively.
Despite such bad performance, the government allocates a hefty amount of funds to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) without any sort of accountability.
For example, RHD spends a big sum of money on renovating roads and highways every year before Eid. The government never discloses why the roads need renovation every year or how the money is spent.
There is a gross estimation that the government spends Tk 50 billion in repairing roads every year. The sector, however, was allocated a total of Tk 273 billion in the 2022-23 fiscal. This sector received the third-highest allocation this year too. The RHD is spending the funds as they wish.
The question is whether the contractor firm owned by the ruling party leader wields more influence than the government. Alternatively, could certain unscrupulous engineers or truck drivers' associations be at the centre of this issue? It is feasible to break free from this vicious cycle if the government prioritises good governance. However, this raises the fundamental question: does the government truly desire it?