THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government is planning to implement a running contract system to carry out maintenance on 20,026km of PWD roads in the state, Public Works Minister P A Mohamed Riyas informed the assembly on Monday.
In addition to this, the output-and-performance-based road contract system is also being implemented to maintain the roads for a period of seven years, the minister said.
Riyas said that all the PWD roads will be upgraded to bituminous concrete (BC) and bituminous macadam (BM) standards soon. The minister informed the assembly that the construction of 134km of the 411km roads under the contract for the hill highway tender has been completed. The highway, which passes through 13 districts, has a total distance of 1,180km.
The Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) is constructing 44 stretches of coastal highway with a distance of 520km through a project management unit (PMU). Of these, the detailed project document for eight reaches has been submitted to KIIFB, and financial approval has been obtained.
Along with this, the plan document for two bridges was also submitted. RBDCK (Roads and Bridges Development Corporation) of Kerala has been tasked with the construction of a cable-stayed bridge across the Ponnani estuary of the coastal highway, its approach road, and the widening of the existing 4.8km road in Ponnani town, Riyas informed the assembly.