The road network of Bangladesh comprises National Highways (NH, major roads),Regional Highways (RH, secondary roads), Zilla Roads (ZR, district or tertiary roads),Upazilla roads, Union roads, Village roads and Urban roads. Major arterial roads (national,regional and zilla roads) are constructed, developed and maintained by the Roads andHighways Department (RHD). The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED)constructs and maintains the Upazilla, Union and Village roads, whereas, CityCorporations deal with Urban roads.Asset management requires efficient maintenance of roads pavement and bridges, thishas to be considered as protecting a considerable national asset. Current government’smaintenance funding is not sufficient for adequate management of roads and bridges. Asa result, a maintenance backlog is increasing every year.RHD has a Road and Bridge Asset Management System (RAMS), designed to assist withthe maintenance of its large assets. RAMS incorporates the Road Maintenance andManagement System (RMMS) database and the Highway Development and ManagementTool (HDM-4), backed up by regular annual surveys for traffic and road condition data.LGED pavement management system is mainly based on data collection and engineeringjudgment. LGED is now in the process of introducing HDM to assist with its maintenancemanagement. City Corporations do not have any formal pavement management system.Analysis shows unless the asset is protected by maintaining the network, the wholeinvestment may be jeopardized. Enhanced spending on preventive maintenance willrequire increased funding for roads.As in many other countries, Bangladesh is now in the process of developing a RoadMaintenance Fund, as an alternative means of meeting ongoing maintenance costs. ARoad Fund Board is going to be established soon. Bangladesh is considering theintroduction of Performance Based Maintenance contracts, as an essential component ofits road asset management.The Government is encouraging Private Public Partnership (PPP) in the transport sector ofBangladesh, particularly on highways and expressways, including mass-transit, bridges,tunnels, flyovers, interchanges, city roads, bus terminals, commercial car parking, etc.Bangladesh Private Sector Infrastructure Guidelines have been prepared and recentlyaccepted by Government. The Government is planning to implement an expresswayproject, of 2nd Dhaka Chittagong National Highway on a Built Own Operate and Transfer(BOOT) basis.
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