The government is going to spend Tk 59.06 billion on repairing rural road network destroyed by cyclone Amphan, excessive rain and recent floods.

A project was approved on Tuesday to conserve rural road network system by rehabilitating the affected roads, bridges and culverts.
The approval came from the ECNEC meeting virtually held with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chairing it from her official residence Ganabhaban.

The ministers, state ministers and secretaries concerned joined the meeting from the NEC conference room in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.

In the meeting, a total of five projects involving Tk75.05 billion got approval, Senior Planning Secretary Md Ashadul Islam informed reporters at a virtual briefing after the meeting.

Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) will implement ‘Rehabilitation of rural road infrastructure affected due to cyclone Amphan and Flood’ by December 2023.

It will be implemented in 355 upazilas under 55 districts, said Planning Commission member Md Zakir Hossain Akand.

“In consideration of the extent of damages caused by the cyclone and the recent floods, the project has been formulated to rehabilitate the affected rural roads, culverts and bridges,” Akand said.
The project aims to reduce the transport cost and time through ensuring a sustainable road maintenance system, simplifying the marketing system of various produces and generating more rural employments, thus keeping operational the rural economy.

The project area covers cyclone Amphan affected 69 upazilas under 14 districts of Khulna, Barishal, Chattogram and Dhaka Divisions, flood affected 182 upazilas under 28 districts of Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Chattogram divisions.

Besides, the project area also covers some 139 upazilas under 22 districts of Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka, Mymensingh and Chattogram divisions which were affected due to excessive rain.

The main project operations include rehabilitation of some 2388.34km upazila roads, rehabilitation of some 2274.68km union roads, rehabilitation of 78km RCC roads, reconstruction of some 268 bridges with a cumulative length of 4631.85 metres, reconstruction of some 239 culverts with a cumulative length of 692.37 metres and tree plantation along 328km roads.

Besides, 5,000km upazila roads will be constructed apart from some 8,000km union roads and 12,000km rural roads.

Also, 1,40,000 metres bridges and culverts on upazila and union roads and 50,000 metres bridges and culverts on village roads will be constructed.

In the meeting, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the authorities concerned to complete the work of cyclone Amphan affected roads in a speedy manner in coordination with other ministries and divisions so there is no overlapping of work, said the planning secretary.

The meeting also approved a project for protecting Gobindi and Holdia areas under Saghata upazila and Katalmari area under Fulchori upazila of Gaibandha district from the Jamuna River’s right embankment erosion at a cost of Tk7.99 billion.

The Planning Division senior secretary said the premier in the meeting stressed that the main strategy for checking river erosion should be maintaining the usual flow of water and also keeping operational the river channels through conducting capital dredging.

Ashadul said the Prime Minister once again underscored the need for identifying the shoals in the rivers and removing those through dredging as well as creating buffer zones for preserving water.

She also asked the concerned line ministries to be careful so that river silt does not block the usual flow of water.

 First revision of the Important Rural Infrastructure Development Project: Barishal, Jhalakathi and Pirojpur districts with an additional cost of Tk3.05bn got approval in the meeting.

While giving nod to the project, the PM stressed the importance of maintaining quality of roads, Ashadul said. He said Sheikh Hasina also issued directive for preparing a master plan for the rural roads and infrastructure with the Local Government Division as the lead division.