Investing in Better Rural Connectivity for Bangladesh

DHAKA, April 13 (NsNewsWire) — The Second Bangladesh Rural Transport Improvement Project (RTIP II) helps to improve the rural roads network in the country side. It provides rural communities with improved access to school, hospitals, markets and jobs, said a World Bank press release.

The project benefits approximately 22 million people living near project area including the roads, growth center markets and waterways. The project also builds the capacity of government institutions to better manage rural transport infrastructure.

The project aims to improve and maintain around 5,250 km of Union and Upazila roads  and 50 growth center markets in 26 districts. So far, the project has completed maintenance work of 920.25 km roads. The project has also piloted the performance-based maintenance contracting (PBMC) and the low-cost restoration of rural waterways. The PBMC pilot aims to bring a positive shift in the road maintenance business. The rural waterways pilot will provide better connectivity to the poor and isolated rural communities who don’t have access to road but only have access to waterways.

As of February 2015, contracts for 1010 km road have already been signed. The project has disbursed US$52 million fund. The initial repair work of 82.31 km PBMC out of 190.45 km is complete. 12 contracts for around 100 km upazila roads and 32 contracts for around 240 km of union roads have been awarded. The first rural waterways pilot is under implementation.

The project is also developing a comprehensive rural roads transport safety framework. The framework will develop road safety standards and involve the primary school teachers to raise community road safety awareness. The project aims to enhance the implementing agency Local Government Engineering Department’s (LGED) capacities in planning, monitoring, finance, asset management, administration and governance.

The project uses following electronic Government procurement (e-GP) for all tenders. E-gp is helping the project to ensure efficiency, transparency and competitiveness in the procurement process.

The Government of Bangladesh is implementing the project with US$ 302 support from the World Bank. The World Bank board approved the project on September 2012.