The government has taken a mega project involving Tk 5908 crores in order to recover the loss caused by cyclonic storm and flood.
The project proposal will be placed at the regular weekly Ecnec meeting today (Tuesday) to get approval, a planning commission official said.
The official said many roads across the country have been damaged and have become unusable due to the recent fierce cyclonic storm Amphan and its long-term inundation which also damaged the supporting embankments along the roads.
Many bridges and culverts are broken, he said adding that locals from different districts of the country have also demanded speedy road repairs.
In such a reality, the government has taken initiative to repair the damaged roads, bridges and culverts all over the country with the help of the people's representatives, he added.
The project director Rezaul Karim said, “Two consecutive natural disasters have caused extensive damage to roads across the country. The government has urged to repair those roads. We have compiled a list of damaged roads, bridges and culverts in collaboration with the local representatives.”
The project will be implemented between October this year and December 2023 by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives.
The project will be implemented in different districts including flood-affected 69 upazilas in 14 districts of Khulna, Barisal, Chittagong and Dhaka divisions and flood affected 182 upazilas in 28 districts of Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Sylhet and Chittagong divisions and heavy rains affected areas in 139 upazilas in 22 districts of Rajshahi, Khulna, Dhaka and Mymensingh divisions.
According to sources in LGED, under this project 354 km of roads will be reconstructed at the upazila level damaged by cyclone Amphan. At the union level, 267 kilometers of roads will be rehabilitated while at the village level, 189 km of roads will be repaired.
In all, 1,212 km of roads will be repaired at the upazila, union and village level.
In addition, a total of 246 meters of damaged bridges would be reconstructed while a total of 128 meters of culverts would also be repaired.
On the other hand, 1,227 km of upazila roads damaged by long-term floodings will be repaired and 1,106 km at the union level. Besides, 696 kilometers of rural roads will be developed.
The roads that have been damaged due to heavy rains across the country will also be repaired under this project.
Of these, 807 km of roads damaged by heavy rains at upazila level, 901 km at union level and 650 km at village level will be repaired.
According to the Ministry of Disaster Management, cyclone Amphan hit the coastal districts on May 20 this year causing huge damages to road infrastructures.
The Ampan cyclone impacts also caused severe damage to the communication system. According to the Ministry of Disaster Management, the cyclone damaged 200 bridges and culverts.
Exactly one and a half months after the cyclone flood started from June 26. The Ministry of Disaster Management has termed this year's flood as the longest since 1997.
A total of 154 upazilas of 33 districts of the country were under water for 43 consecutive days. The prolonged floods damaged many roads, bridges and culverts.
