GRSF Catalyzes Major Road Safety Investment in Bangladesh
March 28, 2022
Crashes on Bangladesh’s roads are estimated to claim the lives of about 25,000 people and disable another 200,000 each year. Over the past three decades, the increase in the road traffic fatality rate in Bangladesh has been three times that of the broader South Asia region. Over half the road crash victims are poor and vulnerable, with pedestrians accounting for almost half of all road traffic deaths and injuries.
Through the landmark Road Transport Act 2018, the government of Bangladesh recently committed itself to sustainably improving the nation's road safety performance.
The World Bank-financed Bangladesh Road Safety Project ($358 million), which was approved by the World Bank Board in March 2022, aims to support the establishment of a lead road safety agency in Bangladesh and achieve a 30 percent reduction in fatal crashes along pilot highway corridors and other roads receiving mass-action treatments.
Intended project outcomes include the launch of a national road safety program and road safety fund, improved inter-agency coordination, faster incident response and crash clearance, and reduced traffic safety risks for all road users in Bangladesh.
This is the World Bank’s first stand-alone multisectoral road safety project in the South Asia region supporting a client government in developing a long-term national program to improve road safety management and outcomes.
Project Characteristics:
- A focus on institution building, governance, and public-private partnership opportunities in road safety.
- Multisectoral road safety pilot initiatives on national highways and on urban and district roads.
- Priority investments in road infrastructure, vehicle and driver safety, traffic safety enforcement, crash data management, and post-crash care.
- Technical assistance for participating departments
GRSF played a key role in catalyzing and supporting the project from preparation to implementation through
three GRSF technical assistance grants totaling $0.6 million.
Since 2019, GRSF-funded World Bank analytical and advisory work—with comprehensive support from the World Bank task team—has included carrying out the Bangladesh Safety Management Capacity Review, the development of a Road Safety Action Plan, and the provision of technical assistance. These activities have helped shape the design of project components. Outputs included assessments of high-risk pilot corridors, a review of the crash database system, an assessment of traffic enforcement agencies, and an economic- and gender-gap analysis of the project.
The preparation of this multisectoral project—which spans across three ministries—required in-depth technical feasibility studies, capacity assessments for institutional management, and a market review to facilitate budgeting for the modernization of data management systems and the purchase of equipment required for road safety interventions.