Country accepts loans that benefit country’s economic growth: LGRD minister
“The country has transitioned from a nation struggling to secure loans to one that is now offered loans with favourable terms,” he said while addressing a workshop titled “Resilient Rural Transport Asset Management” at a city hotel.
Bangladesh selectively accepts loans from multiple offers that benefit the country's sustainable economic development, Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD) Minister Md Tazul Islam said today (22 May).
"The country has transitioned from a nation struggling to secure loans to one that is now offered loans with favourable terms," he said while addressing a workshop titled "Resilient Rural Transport Asset Management" at a city hotel.
"Various international organisations, including the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and Jica, participate in Bangladesh's economic development programmes to support our economic initiatives through providing loans," the minister highlighted.
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"We carefully assess loan proposals and only accept those that demonstrably benefit the country's economic development," he added.
The event, jointly organised by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and the World Bank, focused on improving the government's disaster risk management capabilities.
The workshop aimed to strengthen upstream planning and management of rural road networks, ultimately increasing the resilience of communities along these routes.
Tazul Islam stressed the importance of the adoption of sustainable construction practices as we are a climate-vulnerable country, stating, "Building roads that deteriorate quickly is not a wise policy".
He acknowledged the challenges posed by Bangladesh's climate vulnerability and marshy terrain, factors that significantly increase infrastructure costs compared to other regions.
Tazul Islam pointed to past instances where roads built by LGED became unusable within a year and a half. "We have addressed this issue," he said. "Through collaboration with engineers, we have established procedures to ensure roads last for at least five years."
The minister concluded by reiterating the importance of soil strength assessment before embarking on road infrastructure reconstruction projects.
