WB provides Bangladesh $358 million to improve road safety

The World Bank on Monday approved $358 million of financing to help Bangladesh improve road safety and reduce fatalities and injuries from road traffic crashes in selected high-risk highways and district roads. 

The financing institution's International Development Association (IDA) is giving the credit, WB Dhaka office said this in a press release yesterday.

The press release said the Road Safety Project will help Bangladesh achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on road safety by 2030. 

In two national highways—N4 (Gazipur-Elenga) and N6 (Natore to Nawabganj)—the project will pilot comprehensive road safety measures, including improved engineering designs, signing and marking, pedestrian facilities, speed enforcement, emergency care. 

These measures will help reduce road traffic deaths by more than 30 percent on these two highways. 

“Road accidents are the leading cause of permanent disability, and the fourth leading cause for children’s death. They disproportionately affect poor families. For Bangladesh, improving road safety is a critical economic and development priority,” Mercy Tembon, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh and Bhutan said in the release. 

“This is the first dedicated road safety project in South Asia supported by the World Bank. It will help Bangladesh develop a comprehensive program to improve road safety management and minimize tragic loss of human lives,” he added.