| Project Detail |
The proposed Rural Infrastructure Maintenance Program (RIMP) will focus on improving rural road rehabilitation and maintenance in Bangladesh. ADB will assist the government in preparing a rehabilitation and maintenance program for rural roads under the project design advance (PDA). The RIMP will support the sector program which the PDA has helped to design. During the past decades, rural infrastructure in Bangladesh significantly improved. Despite progress, rural connectivity remains weak, impeding the physical and economic access. Only 40% rural population has access to all-weather roads. About 33% of upazila and union roads and 84% of village roads are still unpaved. A steep rise in road-based cargo transport in rural areas, driven by rising economic growth, has aggravated rural road conditions. Over 40% of the rural roads network needs to be rehabilitated as these are in an unmaintainable condition. Insufficient rehabilitation and maintenance budgets, covering only 35% of needs, destabilized rural road networks. Weak construction and maintenance skills, plying of overloaded vehicles, and extreme climate events caused a huge rehabilitation backlog. The rural road network, even under present climate conditions, is seriously damaged during flooding and intense rainfalls. Given the high vulnerability to climate change, rural infrastructure in the country must be climate-resilient to manage the long-term costs of investments, and to ensure that such investments deliver their intended benefits. The impact will be connectivity between lagging and better-off regions improved. The outcome will be mobility of rural residents increased. The key outputs are (i) rural road infrastructure rehabilitated and maintained; and (ii) institutional arrangement for road maintenance strengthened. The program beneficiaries include the government, LGED, road users, transport owners and operators, traders, road construction companies, and the impact zone people. |
