Chandigarh, 3 October (IANS) In a celebration Bonanza, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday announced a major project for repairing and upgrading the rural link roads of 19,491.56 km with a outlay of Rs 4,150.42 crore.
Addressing the gathering at Taran Taran, the Chief Minister said, “Today is a historic day, especially for rural areas of Punjab, because rural link roads are being repaired and upgraded today”. Mann said that the government has taken another historic decision, as now, with the repair of these link roads, their maintenance will be ensured by contractors for the next five years.
The Chief Minister said that there are a total of 30,237 link roads in Punjab, with a total length of 64,878 km, which adds 33,492 km under Punjab Mandi Board and 31,386 km is under Public Works Department (PWD).
He said that the government is now starting a project to repair and upgrade 7,373 link roads with a total length of 19,491.56 km. The cost of this project will be Rs 4,150.42 crore, including five years of maintenance. Mann said that Rs 3,424.67 crore will be spent for repair and upgradation, while Rs 725.75 crore will be spent for five years of maintenance.
The Chief Minister said that the e-tendering process for repair and upgradation of these roads has been completed, and the entire work will be done in a transparent and corruption-free manner. He said that an artificial intelligence (AI) survey was conducted for these roads, resulting in a savings of Rs 383.53 crore.
Mann said that for the first time, a ‘Road Infrastructure Development Meeting’ was held to ensure high quality during road repair and upgradation. The Chief Minister said that in this meeting, Mandi Board officials, contractors and other stakeholders discussed key issues and all contractors and agencies were clearly instructed that no compromise should be made on quality in this link road project, and proper maintenance should be ensured in all circumstances.
He said that a special road safety project is being implemented on repair and advanced link road at a cost of Rs 91.83 crore, to ensure public safety during foggy or dark conditions.
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