BET312: Infrastructure Management Plan & Strategy in Bangladesh

This report examines infrastructure asset management strategies in Bangladesh, focusing on the transportation and water sectors. It highlights the challenges posed by population growth, climate change, and limited resources. The report discusses ongoing projects, such as road maintenance and expansion initiatives funded by the Asian Development Bank, as well as efforts to improve water resource management through private sector involvement and partnerships like the Delta Plan. It also emphasizes the importance of increased maintenance budgets, private sector involvement through PPPs, institutional reforms, and assessing future infrastructure demands to achieve operational efficiency and resilience in the face of climate change and population growth. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and resources for students.

Infrastructure management plan and strategy in Bangladesh
Introduction
Efficient operation of infrastructure is based on the level of infrastructure asset management. By
definition, infrastructure asset management is the integrated and multidisciplinary strategies
which are laid down in order to sustain the operation of public infrastructure assets. It can also be
defined as a series of systematic and coordinated management practices that help optimize
performance while minimizing costs and risk of asset failure (Balzer, 2016 and In Lloyd, & In
Corcoran, 2019). The aim of the infrastructure asset management is to ensure that the operational
efficiency is achieved in the long run. The focus of the infrastructure asset management is to
increase the life cycle through proper maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement of defective
parts. In Bangladesh, one of the major inhibitor of economic growth has been found to be
infrastructural bottlenecks. According to World Bank, Bangladesh need to spend about $7.4
billion in order to make the infrastructural systems to have proper efficiency. The major
infrastructure systems which require management and proper planning include the roads, water
and power grids. The infrastructure maintenance in the transportation sector in the country alone
requires about $40 million to achieve the efficiency (Cambridge Systematics et al., 2015).
Climate change is contributing negatively to the infrastructure in Bangladesh. Natural disasters
and high populations are leading to quick deterioration of the available infrastructures.
Research evidence
According to World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report (2013), the quality of the
infrastructure in Bangladesh was rated on position 134 out of 142 ranked countries. This shows
that there is a greater need to have the implementation of the infrastructure asset management on

the transport and water assets in the country (Hudson, Uddin, & Haas, 2013). According to the
survey, the overall ranking of the quality of the infrastructure was ranked at 2.77 out of 7 with
the lower values indication the extreme level of underdevelopment. The ranking of the
infrastructure is able to show that there is a great need to develop the infrastructure systems and
therefore must be included in the infrastructure asset management plan.
The Bangladeshi government has been found to have limited resources which only does it inhibit
development of new infrastructure but also limit the management of the available infrastructure.
The underdeveloped and unevenly distributed infrastructure were inherited even from the
colonial government. The development of infrastructure asset management has been important to
help in rescue of the economy (United States, 2015). In addition, since the colonial era,
Bangladeshi has seen an increase in infrastructure asset management and planning in order to
counter the population demands associated with increased population, environmental concerns
such as climate change, increased economic and financial pressures on government, prevalence
of new and emerging information technology and other vulnerabilities in societies.
Information analysis
Transportation infrastructure
The country has been able to grown its roads network and public transport since the colonial era.
About 201,182 kilometers network of both primary and secondary road network has been
developed with about 10% having been paved. One of the major and iconic infrastructure which
was developed is the US$1 billion Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge which was completed in 1998.
The country has plans to keep growing the coverage of the road network to make more areas
accessible. The maintaining of the road networks and its associated infrastructure is critical for

development growth. In transportation, Bangladeshi has a rail transport network covering about
2,745 kilometers for bother the broad gauge and narrow gauge (Hastings, 2015). The rail
network is able to connect major economic hubs such as the airports and major centers in the
country. In addition, according to plans, the government of Bangladesh has expressed its interest
in "seriously studying the potential of linking the national railways with the proposed Trans-
Asian Railway Network." This shows that the government has great plans to ensure connectivity
of the infrastructure is achieved.
One of the major planned infrastructure asset management strategy is to ensure that all the roads
are well passable and lacks potholes. This can only be achieved through proper road
maintenance. The government has been able to ensure that continuous maintenance is done
through contracting of local contractors to maintain the road networks. This method is done as
part of road infrastructure asset management to ensure that the assets are in good conditions.
Road maintenance and improvement projects have been launched and operated as part of the
road infrastructure asset management plan in Bangladesh. The country has five major road
corridors and the projects for maintenance was developed in order to focus on these corridors.
additionally, the project involves expanding the relevant areas in order to ensure that
effectiveness is achieved (Amekudzi, & Transportation & Development Institute, 2014). In
addition, the project also involved introduction of key policies and institutional reforms in the
road section which aims at growing the economy. This project is funded by Asian Development
Bank (ADB) at a total cost of $160.2 million. Over time, the project has been able to achieve
about 113.25 new kilometers or roads networks being constructed.
The increase in population in Bangladesh has led to an increase demand for proper maintenance
of the road networks. The rate of passenger increase has been estimated to be 8% and freight

increase of about 7%. This means that the road network also needed to increase in order to avoid
further deterioration. The increased usage of the infrastructure without proper plans and
maintenance measures leads to quick deterioration (Schwab, 2013). The ADB project was able to
come up with both the maintenance and expansion programs as well as policies to ensure that the
parties are well educated to improve the infrastructure. The road infrastructure asset management
plan for the country has been focusing on the overlying and widening or roads, upgrading and
construction of terminal points. The focus on these areas has been able to ensure that the
increased demand is met. As the population increases, the need to proper maintenance and
widening of the road networks is required.
In addition, policies and legal frameworks have been developed for tool funding of the private
sector to enhance operation and maintenance of the road networks. Private concessionaire has
been developed and ensured that toll collection and routine maintenance of the roads is done
with private partnership (Hudson, Uddin, & Haas, 2013). In addition, legal framework and
policies were developed to ensure that the highway usage is well utilized with proper kind of
vehicles. This ensures that design usage is well observed through usage of proper utilization of
the road networks. The policies and frameworks gives the relevant authorities.
Developed countries have developed frameworks and policies which are able to ensure
maintenance of the road networks is up to date. This includes the associated infrastructures on
the road networks. The maintenance of the drains is done regularly to ensure that flooding on the
roads which main lead to quick deterioration is prevented (United States, 2007). In addition,
these countries are able to involve the private sector and ensure that they take part in
maintenance of the road networks. In addition, the developed countries have always moved to
ensure that the maintenance budget is enough to maintain the available infrastructures. The

maintenance budget should be able to match the level of development done on the infrastructure.
This will ensure that quality maintenance is done to the assets and therefore able to serve their
purpose efficiently.
Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
In terms of water and water resources, Bangladesh is affected by floods and inundation mostly
during the monsoon season. After the flooding experience and like any developing nation, water
shortages and drought due to climate change are experienced during the dry season. During the
years 2011, a study by PWC was able to show that the water supply was sufficient. Nevertheless,
the situation is likely to change were a shortage of 21% is likely to be experienced by 2030 (Gay,
& Sinha, 2014). Additionally, it is estimated that 33% of the Bangladesh population is exposed
to arsenic contamination of the ground water.
To solve all these issues, water infrastructure asset management plan is important to help redeem
the situation and provide quality and better water to the population. challenges on uncertainty of
ground water recharge do exist. In addition, only 0.4% of the total water surface is harvested and
stored. This is coupled with the issues of construction of water infrastructure. In bring the water
infrastructure asset management to another level, the government has given roles of water supply
to private sectors (United States, 2015). Nevertheless, the private business has been experiencing
challenges such as lack of finances, low awareness of water management and lack of enough
stakeholder’s cooperation. Through all these, it is clear that the country is experiencing
unsustainable water infrastructure management. The formation of the 2030 Water Resources
Group (2030 WRG) was critical to analyze and formulate policies which are meant to ensure that
the asset management is improved. The Delta Plan is also in progress with partnership of the
government and Netherlands (United States, 2011). This is a key plan to help in improving both

waste water and improvement of sustainable living in the delta with high consideration of the
climate change.
In addition, in the enforcement and participation, the planning has been able to ensure that the
private sector is well involved in the roads maintenance. The project was able to come up with a
legal framework and environmental outputs where the private sector is able to participate in road
construction and maintenance. This was achieved through the RMC component where the
private sector has been a key road management (Haider, 2013). Before the rolling out of this
project, the road network in Bangladesh was in poor condition. The main reasons for the
condition and status of the roads at the time was due to poor maintenance and policies to ensure
the roads are in good conditions. Rehabilitation of the roads was rarely done at the time and this
was due to lack of the infrastructure maintenance plan. the partnership of the ADB and the
government was able to enhance and change the conditions. Institutionalization of the special
road maintenance fund was able to come at the right time as part of the infrastructure asset
management plan for the government.
Conclusion
The road infrastructure maintenance can be improved first by the increase and schedule of
maintenance cost during national budgeting. This will ensure that the infrastructure management
is given a priority for the efficiency operation. In addition, involvement of the private sector on
the maintenance is important. The government may enter into Private Public Partnership to
ensure that the funding is not affected (Association of Local Government Engineers of New
Zealand et al., 2011). The PPP will ensure that the contracts are well maintained and run to
ensure that the maintenance of the road infrastructure is achieved. Involving the private sectors is

important to ensure that all stakeholders have stakes in maintenance of the infrastructure. This
will ensure responsible usage and timely maintenance of the infrastructure assets is achieved.
As seen in the other infrastructure systems, financial funding on the water and wastewater
systems is critical to ensure that the functionality of the systems is achieved. Institutional reforms
are also critical to ensure that the stakeholders are able to understand the level of management
required for the assets to achieve the required operational efficiency. To achieve the resilience
level, empowerment of the private sector with resources and information is highly needed. The
government has a key role to ensure that the partnership with the private sector is aimed at
achieving the key infrastructure management goals for operationalization. Assessment of the
future demand of the infrastructure assets in relation to climate change forecasts and growing
population is critical in all policy formulations. This will help in planning for the different areas
and ensure that the performance of the infrastructure is achieved.

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