Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has said a master plan will be drawn up to stop the construction of roads in an unplanned manner across the country.
Finance minister informed the matter to the media after a cabinet committee meeting on public purchase on Wednesday.
"The Prime Minister made an observation at the ECNEC meeting yesterday that all are interested in building roads but not maintaining the quality of the roads. The Prime Minister asked concerned authorities to properly maintain roads and highway,” finance minister said.
The Prime Minister also said the concerned authorities have been ruining the croplands of the country by constructing new roads, according to minister Kamal.
“Often roads are constructed through croplands to save three kilometres of additional roads. As a result, a master plan will be prepared across the country to make the Prime Minister's statement more forceful or meaningful,” he said.
The number and the length of roads there are now in the country and the number of roads to be built in the next 10, 20 or 50 years will be in the master plan, he added.
An announcement has been made from the committee meeting to formulate a master plan in this regard.
Additional Secretary to the Cabinet Nasima Begum said, a committee has been formed to make a master plan and cabinet division will coordinate the matter. Roads and Highways Department will be included formulating the master plan.
"We will see how that can be done. The cabinet division coordinates the activities of the entire government. Therefore, the responsibility has fallen on us,” she said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday (September 22) instructed ECNEC (Executive Committee of the National Economic Council) meeting not to build additional roads.
However, when more roads are built, water flow is also disrupted. No additional road can be constructed to take the road by the side of the house. We have to come out of this kind of mentality, the minister pointed out.
In response to a reporter’s question regarding inflated cost constructing roads in Bangladesh, finance minister asked back, “Where did you get the information that the road project is unusually expensive in Bangladesh?”
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