THE sorry state of the country鈥檚 road infrastructure is largely blamed on persistent negligence in road maintenance. The authorities, shelving out a huge amount of money, often unreasonably high, for road construction, appear to have continued to deprioritise road maintenance, while they should have always prioritised repair and maintenance work and allocated funds accordingly. Moreover, the rundown condition of the roads is also blamed for a higher incidence of road fatalities. A recent task force report on the economy says that there have been significant shortfalls in road maintenance budgets every year for the Roads and Highways Department and Local Government Engineering Department. The RHD manages about 22,000 kilometres of the country鈥檚 road infrastructure, including national, regional and district roads, while the LGED manages about 378,000 kilometres of the road infrastructure, including some district roads, feeders and rural roads. While the RHD鈥檚 budget requirement for road maintenance was $100 million in 2019, $105 million in 2020, $110 million in 2021, $115 million in 2022 and $120 million in 2023, it received $44 million in 2019, $48 million in 2020, $52 million in 2021, $56 million in 2022 and $60 million in 2023.
The LGED also received about half of what it required for road maintenance. It received a $30 million maintenance budget against the required $50 million in 2019, $35 million against $55 million in 2020, $40 million against $60 million in 2021, $45 million against $65 million in 2022 and $50 million against $70 million in 2023. Such underfunding often results in ineffective maintenance and the use of substandard materials in maintaining roads. What is also worrying is that most maintenance works are done during the monsoon, as maintenance funds are often delivered to the RHD and LGED in or just before the monsoon. Experts say that road maintenance work in the rainy season is largely a waste of money. What is unacceptable is that while experts and even government reports raised the issue time and again in the past, urging the authorities to adopt global best practices and allocate a dedicated fund for road maintenance, the government took some eyewash measures that have not solved the problem. The government established such a fund by enacting the Road Maintenance Fund Board Act in 2013 with the aim of facilitating the maintenance, repair and renovation of roads managed by the RHD, but the fund has remained non-functional for the past 11 years.
The government needs to realise that investing in road maintenance not only extends the lifespan of road infrastructure but also fosters economic growth, lowers transportation costs and improves road safety and allocate funds as per the requirement. The government should also immediately form the stipulated road maintenance fund to adequately finance and monitor road repair and maintenance round the year.