Editorial
A highway stretch in bad shape
Its repair brooks no delay
The dismal state of a thirty-four kilometer highway section between Bogra and Sherpur in northern Bangladesh has been depicted in a front-page report in our paper on Tuesday last. This road is regarded as an arterial one which has assumed vital importance following the construction of the Jamuna Bridge that has reduced by a half the travel time from Dhaka to the northern region. This was one of the best highway when constructed in 1978 but now it has as many as 13 thousand potholes along a 13 kilometers stretch, it is learnt. Another measure of how bad the road has become can be gauged from the long queues of vehicles stranded and one and a half hours time being taken to cover the short distance. Bumpy craters are a hazard to movement and on Sunday alone, several lorries were found with broken wheel and axles.
Obviously, we had nice and smooth highways built, mostly with foreign assistance, and then defaulted on its mandatory periodic repair allowing these to go virtually uncared for. Maintenance seems to get the lowest priority with us. Timely repair is key to keeping the roads and highways serviceable which are under constant use. About the Bogra-Sherpur highway opportunities presented themselves in some form or the other to do up the roads. The attempts reportedly proved abortive. For instance, in 2004 World Bank offered Tk 42 crore for the purpose and tenders were floated, but later on, the Bank pulled back its funds. The following year, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) committed Tk 43 crore for maintenance work but this also did not materialise due to red tape. RHD's own effort to maintain the road at a cost of Tk 16 crore couldn't be pulled off for dearth of funds.
We believe the latest RHD initiative to repair the worst affected 18.50 kilometer stretch at a cost of Tk 20 crore will meet with success. We understand for this to happen the weight of goods transported through the highway has to be properly overseen and regulated. We urge the authorities concerned to give the matter the priority it deserves for the sake of smoothening the journey to the northern region.
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