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The government has taken a move to repair about 1,500 kilometres of roads and highways that have been damaged due to this year's heavy rainfall across the country.
Adviser to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges Fouzul Kabir Khan disclosed this after an inter-ministerial meeting at the Road Transport and Highways Division conference room on Monday.
He said the relevant government departments including Public Works, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and Roads and Highways Department will be engaged to carry out the repair works in the shortest possible time.
"We had experienced a positive result by working together in addressing the water-logging situation in Chattogram city this year,' he told the journalists.
The adviser also said: "…we are expecting a better as well as permanent solution to the damaged roads as those will not be repaired only through putting in some bricks and bitumen."
About the repairing cost, the Advisor said several committees will be formed to assess the expenditures, he said.
Mr. Fouzul Kabir said various aspects like use of concretes or bitumen, water-logging and categories and condition of the infrastructures would be taken into consideration while making the assessments.
National highways would get more importance than the regional highways while carrying out the repairing works.
Senior officials from the ministries of Road Transport, Public Works and LGED were present at the meeting.
Special Assistant to the chief adviser Sheik Moinuddin, Road and Highways Division Senior Secretary Md Ehsanul Haque, Local Government Division Secretary Md Rezaul Maksud Jahedi, Public Works Secretary Md Nazrul Islam, Bridge Secretary Mohammad Abdur Rouf Ahmed, RHD chief engineer Syed Moinul Hasan and LGED Chief Engineer Md Abdur Rashid Miah, among others, attended the meeting.
At present, there are around 22,418 kilometres (kms) of national and regional highways under the RHD and that of around 4, 11000 kms of roads at upazila, union and village and district-levels are under the LGED.
And about 1.60000 kms of the total roads are paved ones, it was learnt.
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