Dhaka, Oct 23— The government intends to emphasise repairing existing roads rather than building new ones, the communications minister has said.
Abul Hossain on Sunday explained to parliament that the government was 'short of finances' and that he cannot guarantee proposals for new roads.
"The government has many limitations. I can't guarantee if [a proposal for road] will be realised," he said, in reply to a question by Jatiya Party MP S M Abdul Mannan.
"I want to keep all the existing roads fit for transportation," he added.
He urged the lawmakers not to propose new roads and bypasses. "If you do, I will send a DPP, but the implementation will depend on government funding," he added.
In the last few months, the communications minister has faced fire from nearly all quarters since a transport strike that protested the poor state of highways grounded holidaymakers in Dhaka and the deaths of two prominent film and media personalities in accidents.
Abul Hossain had blamed the lack of funding for poor speed of repairs in front of the media.
He made similar remarks in parliament on Sunday, saying, "At least Tk 51 billion is required for repairing damaged roads under the SDM method. The ECNEC approved 14.1 billion, of which we have received Tk 500 million."
"The roads are not in a good condition, everyone knows that. I hope the government will pay attention to this," he added.
Abul hoped that the situation would improve when the Annual Development Plan would be revised in December.
from: www.bdnews24.com
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