NEW DELHI: The Delhi Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh has said the road repair works have resumed and the government plans to repair 600 km of roads by December this year.
This comes after the road repair projects had to be halted for months as the West Asia war affected the supply and pushed up the prices of bitumen, a petroleum byproduct used in road construction. But thanks to the approval of cost escalation proposals for all projects starting from April this year to November by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the projects are back on track.
“Due to the war situation, the supply of bitumen was affected, and its prices also saw a significant increase. This led to delays in the work, but we have reissued the tender and restarted the work afresh.
Road construction and resurfacing work is not feasible in winter, so a target has been set to complete 600 kilometres of roads by December, and work is progressing rapidly on the identified roads,” Singh said late Thursday night while inspecting road surfacing in Africa Avenue.
The minister also said that the roads should not only be built quickly but also be durable, and for this purpose, he informed that a team from Netaji Subhas University of Technology is monitoring the quality through third-party audits. “Additionally, the company awarded the road construction contract will also be responsible for maintaining the road for the next five years,” he added.
The road repair work is not taken up during monsoon, and in winters, with night temperatures dropping below 15 degrees Celsius, the bitumen laying becomes difficult, an official said. Last year, the Centre approved a fund request of `803 crore for 152 road-related projects across Delhi covered under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund.
PWD’s ambit
The PWD manages about 1,400 km of roads in the Capital. Out of this, tenders for work on 400 km have been floated that will be covered under the cost-escalation proposal. 200 km of roads being funded by the Delhi government will be in overall repair works.
