A step towards Digital Bangladesh
Kazi Sayeda Momtaz

The Management Information Systems (MIS) at the Roads and Highways Department was established in 1997. The objectives of the MIS are supporting the information requirements of the Roads and Highways Department through the procurement, development, installation and maintenance of the necessary computer hardware and software.

Roads and Highways Department has well-established infrastructure to support the Information technology. The RHD computer network allows the network user to work and share the resources from RHD HQ, BRRL and RHD training centre through local area network. Powerful network servers and Microsoft Windows network platform provides fast access to the resources and security to the data. All RHD officers now have an RHD email address and they can easily communicate world-wide through the RHD e-mail system.
The Roads and Highways Department has its own web site. The site address is http://www.rhd.gov.bd. The web site can be accessed through Internet from anywhere in the world. The Intranet version is accessible from RHD network.

The RHD web site is launched within RHD network. Therefore any network user can view the web site simply by typing the web address. From 2007 CMS (Central Management System) was introduced and from November 2010 CMS is online through FTP server.
Public Procurement is the online advertising of all active tenders. The Construction contracts links to the Tender Database. The Consultancy services links to other pages showing the list of the active consultancy invitations.

Active Tender link is extracted from the tender database that is currently open for invitation. All tender notice can be published directly from officers desk and it is the essence of transparency of RHD. The Overview of Bangladesh has sub link for the History, Culture, Environment and Attraction. web site also provides a complete telephone directory of all the RHD offices. Telephone Directory link is available in the main menu at RHD web home page. The Web Mail link follows the RHD mail system to check mail from web page. The RHD web site contains total 15 databases totaling 14,228 records of personnel. records of 18,258 bridge structures and 21,302.08 km of road information and records of various projects. Basically RHD is responsible for construction and maintenance of the major road and bridge network of Bangladesh. Since the Department was established the size of the major road network in Bangladesh has grown from 2,500 km to the present network of 21,302.08 Km. RHD is headed by a Chief Engineer who is supported by a number of Additional Chief Engineers.

The databases are available in Intranet and Internet version. Intranet version is only available through the RHD network. Internet version can be accessible by anyone through network or remote connection. Intranet version contains more information but requires a reliable connection.

The RHD organization database provides the latest RHD organization structure, post and name and details of the personnel working. The page link to the database allows the user to expand to view information down to division level. It also allows to collapse to view only to chief engineer or any level in between. The page has options to sort information by post or name, find only vacant posts or retiring posts within the selected office.

Personnel database keeps information about all the employees of RHD. The information is classified as personal, education, training, service, promotion and posting. There is other personal information that can only be viewed by authorized person. The page link to the database allows seeing the promotions, transfers and retiring employees’ details. The Advance search engine allows finding a person by name, designation or ID.

The Road Maintenance Management System (RMMS) database contains data on 21,302.08 Km roads in Bangladesh, including traffic, number of bridges and condition data. The RMMS is processed through HDM-4 to produce maintenance plans. The database is useful to view ongoing work classified by development, revenue and deposit work with historical report.

Schedule of rates database allows viewing the rates of the works of each zone for six different categories. The rate helps the contractors to prepare estimates, helps RHD officers to prepare tenders and helps other people to compare. The Intranet version of the database allows showing more details of the items but it is accessible to the LAN users only.

The Contractors database contains records of all the RHD enlisted contractors and their information. The database is helpful to find a contractor, their address or capacity. The RHD officers can view their financial capacity, equipment resources, experience and other related information to evaluate or other purpose. The page allows searching a contractor by class, category and name or on the basis of their capacity.

The Training database supplies information on training conducted by the RHD training centre. The Home page of the database focus on the training news, upcoming training, ongoing training and seminars. The training calendar of the training database event page displays the training to be held on the current week. The powerful search engine allows to find training name, trainee participation, trainer and other information. The database has option to print report on the activities of the RHD training centre.

The Project Monitoring System database stores information regarding to the entire project undertaken under ADP. The link page to the database allows searching a project with a variety of option. The search result shows the name of the project and their description, total allocated amount and work done for the project that meets the search criteria. Further details for each project breakdown are also available on sub linked pages.

Network certification database is a complete list of all the RHD employees who have certified to use RHD network. As a part of Network access procedure RHD officers may require receiving training to be introduced with the RHD network. They will be provided with an email address and a network logon name to access RHD network. Each person may have different right to use network resources.
The Bridge Maintenance Management System (BMMS) database contains data on 18,258 bridges in Bangladesh, including traffic and condition data. The BMMS summarized the information collected from Bridge Condition Survey (BCS) and displays bridges in category A for no damage bridges, B for minor damage bridge, C for major elemental damage and D for major structural damage. The page link to the database shows the summary information in the home page. Details of specific bridges are available on selected link. The search engine allows to search by location condition or structure.

CMS holds all tender and contract information including payment certificates, vouchers and cherub book records and shows both physical and financial progress of RHD works. The information processed through CMS field module is sent back to RHD HQ and the information is processed to CMS database. The CMS page that links to the database can be viewed by authorized users only.
CMS is a versatile and strong management tool. It contains the latest updated information on all RHD contracts that are being handled throughout the country. It is now as easy as a click to get information on any contract and get both its physical work details and financial details.

“E-Governance refers to the use of information and communications technologies to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of Government”.

Tender database contains records of the tender invited by the RHD. The database contains information of tender make or memo number, tender inviting authority, selling and submission date and instruction regarding to dropping tenders. The page linked to the database allows to select an office in between Chief Engineer to Sub-Division and then to search tenders by specific period, category, expenditure type, data category or selecting other options. The search result shown summary of the memo order. Details of each contract can be further classified.
RHD email can be used through RHD web site. It is user friendly and requires no configuration. It can be used from any computer from your home, Office, cyber cafe or outside country.

Lastly, we can say that RHD is the pioneer of e-governance. All divisions/office use most powerful CMS (Central Management System) for manage RHD’s financial system and without CMS nobody can expense their budget and it’s a great achievement of digital RHD. Up to 50 crore all OTM tenders of RHD published in e-gp portal