Minister gives update on projects
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had taken up detailed review of National Highways (NHs) network with a view to develop the road connectivity to Border areas, development of Coastal roads including road connectivity for Non-Major ports, improvement in the efficiency of National Corridors, development of Economic Corridors, Inter Corridors and Feeder Routes along with integration with Sagarmala, etc., under “Bharatmala Pariyojana”.
This updated was given by Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 16 Mar 2020.
Under this proposal, the Ministry has identified stretches for development of about 26,200 km length of Economic Corridors, 8,000 km of Inter Corridors, 7,500 km of Feeder Routes, 5,300 km Border and International connectivity roads, 4,100 km Coastal and Port connectivity roads, 1,900 km Expressways, National Corridor Efficiency improvement by development of ring roads around 28 cities, decongestion of about 125 choke points and 66 congestion points, development of 35 nos. of Multimodal Logistics Parks.
Total investment of Rs.692,324 crore is envisaged under Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I and other NHs/road development schemes upto 2021-22; this includes investment of Rs.535,000 crore for Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-I and projects under National Highways Development Project (NHDP).
The Government has also undertaken massive road development programme under SARDP-NE Scheme in NER. Under SARDP-NE (Phase –A and Arunachal Pradesh) 6,418 km (5,998 km actual design length) has already been identified for development at an estimated investment of about Rs.33,750 crore, out of which 3,225 km has been completed and 2,155 km is under construction.
The Ministry has also taken up the connectivity Improvement Program for Char-Dham (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri & Gangotri) in Uttarakhand. The program includes projects of improvement /development of 889 km length of NHs at total estimated cost of about Rs.11,700 crore. Out of 889 km, 1.1 km has been completed and 646 km length is under construction.
The State-wise targets for construction of NHs are fixed in the beginning of each financial year. Target for construction of 11,000 km of NHs has been set for the country in the current financial year, said the Minister.
Government holds regular review meetings at various levels with Regional Officers, State Governments and concessionaires/contractors to resolve the issues, if any and ensure completion of projects within stipulated time.
Road Safety Audits are being carried out at all stages of development of the highway i.e. design, construction, operation stages to minimise accidents.
Further, the Ministry has taken up installation of crash barriers in hilly terrain on National Highways in predominantly hilly states at accident prone locations.
The Ministry advocates use of Traffic calming measure at accident prone areas. High priority has been accorded to identification and rectification of black spots (accident prone spots) on national highways.
All National Highways are constructed as per quality standards specified in Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as well as Indian Roads Congress (IRC) specifications, Gadkari elaborated.
The contractor/Concessionaire has to prepare a Quality Assurance Plan in consultation with Authority’s Engineer (AE)/Independent Engineer (IE).
The tests on various materials at the specified frequencies have to be conducted by the contractor. The AE/IE has also to conduct certain tests at their level to ensure the quality of the works.
The Officers of the Authority also inspect the works and there is provision of engagement of external technical audit to conduct the quality check of works. fiinews.com
