Rural Transportation System in South Western Part of Bangladesh

A good transportation network can be regarded as the prerequisite for development process and its necessity is more obvious for rural areas. Reliable access from villages to markets and other social services is an essential component for ensuring the quality of life for villagers. Atulia Union is located in the south western part of Bangladesh where shrimp farming is the principal occupation of people, followed by agriculture. Rural transports are vital for the movement of agricultural products and shrimp from the production farm to the marketplace. Many poor villages do not have all-weather road access and are often cut off for long periods during the wet seasons. This acts as a constraint for marketing the local products and brings poor monetary return to producers. This study has identified the major impediments of rural transportation and development potentials of the system which could foster over all rural development. It has confirmed that appropriate and location specific need for network improvement and extension, construction of new infrastructure, and enlacing supply of different transport mode are the major issues to be addressed for achieving desired development goals.