The government is considering introducing a charge for road users to enhance the capacity of 'Road Fund' which was created to manage national and regional road maintenance work five years ago.
Sources said the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges sent a proposal to different ministries recently, seeking their opinions for imposing a certain amount of charge on the use of per litre fuel or per cubic metre of gas.
Officials said the proposal was inserted into the draft rules and regulations of Road Maintenance Fund (RMF) to make the fund operative. The rules and regulations are now waiting for approval, they added.
"We have finalised the draft of the rules and regulations of the fund and sought opinions on it from different ministries before getting approval," said an official of the RMF.
He said the proposal for introducing charge for road users has been incorporated as per the guideline of RMF Act which was passed in 2013.
RMF was formed according to Road Maintenance Fund Board Act which was passed in parliament on July 14, 2013 for proper maintenance, repair and renovation of roads under Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
Though the fund was made effective in December the same year through a gazette notification, it could not be operative due to lack of guidelines and rules and regulations.
Till now, the RMF is facing a shortage of manpower and budget to do secretarial works. Only the board sits occasionally.
Azharul Islam Khan, executive officer of RMF created under the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, said the proposal on fuel charge has been incorporated in the rules following the examples of neighbouring countries including India.
He said RMF is likely to get approximately Tk 20 billion a year from its 20 proposed sources which is, however, not enough to carry out regular maintenance work of 21,000 kilometre roads.
"We have to explore sources of road fund income so that the countrywide road network can be maintained properly," said Azharul Islam, also additional secretary of MoRTB.
According to the act, non-tax revenues from RHD and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) in the form of road tax, motor vehicle tax, motor fitness fees, route permit, registration and licence fees, road cutting and utility fees, and road penalties etc are among the options recommended for collecting the money for the road fund.
According to a latest study done by RHD's Highway Development and Management (HDM) Division, around 40 per cent of the country's road network is now in vulnerable state.
It also estimated that Tk 290 billion would be needed till 2020 to manage overall maintenance of the 22,000 kilometre road network of the country.
Sources said the special committees which worked on drafting and reviewing rules and regulations and finalised it last month recommended the road charge as an important source. Different ministries are likely to make comments on the draft rules and regulations next month.
A member of the review committee said there is no option other than to charge the road users to make the road fund sustainable and operational properly.
"Road users must pay even one taka per litre or cubic metre," he added.
He also said the development partners demanded proper functioning of the road fund to make the road network smooth and safe through regular maintenance.
There is a huge gap between the demand for fund for road maintenance work and the budget allocation for RHD roads.
In the last fiscal year, RHD sought 75 per cent higher allocation during the revised budget to manage the roads, which were damaged by flash floods. Tk 18.04 billion was earmarked for RHD in FY 2017-18.
