Friday, Aug 29, 2003
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By Our Special Correspondent
The project has four components - quality enhancement of about 750 km of roads, rehabilitation and major maintenance of nearly 2,000 km of roads, improvements to management of the State road network through institutional strengthening and public-private partnerships, and enhanced funding and improved allocation procedures for the road sector. To be executed in six years, the project broadly covers the east coast along Cuddalore-Tuticorin. As many as 13 bypasses have been proposed. Many interior parts including Arni, Kumbakonam, Tiruvarur, Tiruvannamalai and Ariyalur will be covered. Nearly three-fourths of the project cost will be financed by the Bank in the form of a loan, while the remainder is to be contributed by the State Government. Two months ago, the multilateral agency's board of directors approved the loan application from the State Government. B.P.Misra, Additional Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs in the Union Finance Ministry; K.S. Sripathi; Tamil Nadu Highways Secretary, and Michael Carter, Country Director (India) of the Bank, signed the agreement in New Delhi, according to a release issued by the multilateral agency. The need for taking financial support from the Bank arose as the State Government had been finding it difficult to maintain and improve the roads. The World Bank has noted that in recent years funding for road maintenance in Tamil Nadu has been less than 65 per cent of the requirement, as per the Finance Commission norms, leading more than 35 per cent of the roads remaining in a poor condition. Of the road length of around 60,000 km in the State (excluding roads under the control of local bodies), the State Highways account for about 7,165 km — about 4,100 km falling under double-lane or multilane, and the remaining portion either single-lane or intermediate-lane. So, the Government decided to widen the entire length of single-lane and intermediate-lane to double-lane, and strengthen the others too. For the project, special revenue staff have been posted by the Government to take up land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation. Similarly, officials from the Forest department, exclusively for the TNRSP, have been put in charge of dealing with flora and fauna. Already, environmental clearance has been obtained from the Centre. The Government has also constituted an empowered committee, headed by the Highways Secretary, to deal with policy and inter-departmental issues. A four-member project steering panel has been set up to take decisions on all procurements, based on the recommendations of an evaluation panel. Besides, the Government has prepared a draft policy that seeks to promote a more sustainable and efficient management of the road network. It has sought comments from the public on this document. To express the Highways department commitment to provide safe, reliable and environment-friendly road network, a Citizen's Charter has been brought out. For the current year, the department has allotted about Rs.270 crores for the TNRSP.
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