KOICA will finance $8.9 million for Bangladesh for improving the reliability and safety in national highway corridors of the country by introducing ITS – intelligent transport system.
Transportation sector is one of Korea’s development priority areas for Bangladesh, KOICA said in a statement.
The three-year project is titled “Improving the Reliability and Safety in National Highway Corridors of Bangladesh by Introduction of ITS (Intelligent Transport System)”.
“Through this comprehensive support from Korea, it is believed that Bangladesh can develop ‘Road & Safety Masterplan’ along with establishment of effective road management system which will reduce time and accidents for much-needed improved road conditions in the country.”
The issue came to the fore in a de-briefing seminar for the training titled “Strengthening and Building the capacity of Roads & Highways Department (RHD), Bangladesh officials focusing on Road Maintenance and Management System issues (Bangladesh)” with RTHD and RHD officials.
KOICA organised the de-briefing online seminar with the Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
In this de-briefing seminar, two fellows who attended nine day long online training from September 21 to 29 from RTHD, RHD shared their valuable experiences and knowledge gained from the training.
Also, RHD officials share their Action plans for improvement of RHD sectors in Bangladesh.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic KOICA organised the training virtually through an online platform.
For the smooth implementation of the training, KOICA has granted learning devices such as Samsung Notebook (portable laptop computer) and other accessories for better access in the online learning environment.
KOICA’s Fellowship Program is designed to nurture key leaders in developing countries who can contribute to their respective organization for better results. This country-focused fellowship program has been launched in 2019 and will be continued until 2021. The total number of the direct beneficiaries will reach around 75. This year, a total of 21 fellows from RTHD and RHD got this opportunity.
Young-Ah Doh, County Director of KOICA, mentioned in her congratulatory speech that “the purpose of the finished Online training was to get provision from experts on Road and Transportation Policies in Korea, Road Safety Assessment & Standard on Road Safety Facilities of Expressway Networks, Understanding Intelligent Transport System (ITS) etc.”
She also highlighted that the views expressed in this knowledge sharing seminar should be disseminated to wider stakeholders so that all of stakeholders follow the road safety issues driven by RTHD and RHD.
Md. Nazrul Islam, Secretary of Roads Transport and Highways Division, and Quazi Shahriar Hossain, Chief Engineer of Roads and Highways Department, shared their informative speech and requested close partnership with KOICA.
The Secretary mentioned “The Road Transport & Highways Division has been working relentlessly to achieve the targets of Vision-2021, UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and Time-bound Action Plan 2041”.
He also added “Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1973, South Korea and Bangladesh have developed close relations in various fields, including politics, economy, civil society, and culture over the past 47 years”.
He also expresses his deep gratitude to KOICA CIAT for arranging this fellowship program and for the upcoming ITS project.
