Road Condition Survey: Fearful of flak, RHD won’t publish entire reports

Roads and Highways Department will not make public its annual survey report on road conditions in its entirety to avoid, what its officials say, public criticism.

The RHD has already taken down all its previous reports, formally named as "Maintenance and Rehabilitation Needs Report", from its website.

Sources said the high-ups of the road transport and bridges ministry became furious after different media outlets ran reports on road conditions following the publication of its survey report in June 2023.

Last year was the first time both the length and percentage of roads in "poor, bad or very bad" conditions increased in a year-to-year comparison since 2018, according to the 2023-24 report.

At least 2,152km or 10.48 percent of all surveyed roads were in "poor, bad or very bad" condition, the report said.

After the publication of the media reports, the ministry had asked RHD not to make the report public anymore and also to take down the previous reports from the website, sources said.

The Highway Development and Maintenance Circle of the RHD carries out the survey every year to make a projection of the total maintenance costs for its roads, they said.

The report puts the roads under five categories as per their conditions -- good, fair, poor, bad or very bad.

The survey also aims to prioritise the roads needing maintenance because the RHD does not get enough budgetary allocation to repair all roads in a timely manner, they added.

RHD usually completes the report between April and June every year and publishes the full report on its website. This year's report is now being prepared, they said.

RHD Chief Engineer Syed Moinul Hasan told The Daily Star yesterday, "It is not that we won't make the report public anymore. We will make it public partially."

He said some media outlets "misinterpreted" the report on many occasions.

"For example, after our long efforts, the conditions of more than 90 percent roads are now either 'good' or 'fare'. But some media outlets ran reports stressing that 10 percent roads are still in bad shape even after spending thousands of crores of taka. This is not fair," Moinul said.

Besides, making projections of road maintenance costs public is causing some other problems, he said. "That's why we will not make the report public fully."

Asked about the matter, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri said he was not aware of it.

There are 22,476km of road under the RHD network. Of this, 3,991km are national highways, 4,897km regional highways and 13,558km district roads, according to the RHD's 2022-23 annual report.