How can a highway crumble in just three years?

The state of Bangladesh’s construction projects is once again under the spotlight after news has emerged of the deplorable condition of the Khulna-Satkhira regional highway. According to a report by this daily, this 64km road, after being renovated in 2020, has all but crumbled within a mere three years, leaving us with yet another example of poor planning and lax quality control in the government’s infrastructure endeavours.

Reportedly, the renovation project – taken up by the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in 2018 – involved a budget of Tk 160 crore as well as a plan to widen the road from 18 to 36 feet, with the inclusion of culverts, drainage systems, and strategically placed bus stops. All this was meant to boost connectivity and economic progress in the region. The project, completed in June 2020, was among the 100 roads and highways inaugurated by the prime minister the following year. However, three years on, it now lies dilapidated, riddled with potholes, and with patches of rutted bitumen strewn particularly in the 33km stretch of the road in Khulna. This, according to local residents and drivers, has led to a surge in accidents, putting innocent lives at risk.

The question is: how can a road, reopened with so much fanfare and promise, fall into disrepair within just three years? The obvious suspect – as locals were quick to point out – is the use of substandard materials during its construction. We have seen this happen in case of so many other projects – roads, bridges, culverts – as well. In fact, it was only yesterday that we commented on the woeful state of two newly constructed bridges in Lalmonirhat that had also suffered from poor planning and workmanship. In case of the Khulna-Satkhira highway, the RHD tried to shift the blame to heavy vehicles, especially overloaded stone-laden trucks coming from the Bhomra Land Port. This is nothing but an attempt to deflect responsibility. While excessive traffic and overloading can undoubtedly contribute to road wear and tear, it cannot be the sole reason for its rapid deterioration. The construction of any road should be robust enough to withstand expected traffic for a considerable time.

This points to a serious lack of oversight and quality control measures, which is why we are not much convinced by the Khulna RHD executive engineer’s assurance about the planned upgradation of the regional highway into a national one. We cannot be trapped into an endless cycle of costly upgradation/renovation projects that promise so much but deliver so little. Evidently, what we are dealing with is a systemic problem. And it needs to be dealt with systemically. We urge the government to conduct a thorough review of all ongoing and completed construction projects to ensure that they meet the highest quality standards, and to protect them from premature damage. There must be accountability in all such projects.