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Road projects may need 339 years to finish

Says BIDS study

Staff Correspondent
The projects in the road sector for the present fiscal year would take 10 to 339 years to complete if the current rate of implementation persists, says a study of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
"A large number of road projects are often taken up on political considerations resulting in very thin distribution of resources for many road projects as well as consequent slow rate of project implementation," said the report titled Size and Quality of Annual Development Programme' prepared by BIDS Research DirectorZaid Bakht.
The report's findings were the outcome of an analysis of the budgetary allocation in
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the road sector projects of the current fiscal year.
In 2008-09, road projects accounted for 8.64 per cent of total ADP allocation. Of the total 133 projects under the transport sector, 96 belonged to road sub-sector.
Of those, 24 projects, which were initiated before 2006 and which constituted 25 per cent of all projects, in the road subsector have been receiving allocations in very small amounts causing long delays in their implementation. Despite slow implementation of the above-mentioned projects, 27 new road projects have been initiated since 2006 and many of these new projects have also been receiving inadequate allocations.
The project for bridge construction on Dhaleswari river at Tangail-Alison was taken in 2005. The size of the project is Tk 94.36 crore. Cumulative expenditure up to December 2007 is Tk 69 lakh and average yearly expenditure is Tk 28 lakh. The BIDS study calculates that if the project progresses at this speed, it would take 339 years
to complete.
The project for Pabna-Bandherhat-Naziganj-Rajbari link road construction was taken in 2004. The project size is Tk 41.37 crore. The cumulative expenditure till December '07 was Tk 1.35 crore. The average yearly expenditure is Tk 39 lakh. It would take around 103 years to complete.
The project of Panchagarh Sugar Mills-Benghari-Madia-Shaldanga-Deviganj road development was taken in 2000. The size of the project was Tk 24.63 crore. In seven years till December 2007 the cumulative expenditure was Tk 3.42 crore. Average yearly expenditure was Tk 53 lakh. It will take 40 years to complete the project.
By analysing several other such projects, the study said, "A moratorium should, therefore, be imposed on inclusion of new road projects until a substantial part of the back-logged projects get cleared. "
It said the next budget (FY 2009-10) should prioritise the existing road projects and allocate resources in a way so that priority projects, near about completion, can be wrapped up swiftly.