The Hindu : Karnataka News : Contractors may not be involved in district road maintenance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 14, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka

Contractors may not be involved in district road maintenance

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, MARCH 13. The coalition Government appears to have given up the move to take up maintenance of major district roads (MDRs) with private participation.

The budget speech of the Deputy Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, on Friday made it clear that there is no proposal to involve private contractors in the maintenance of MDRs as proposed by the S.M. Krishna Government.

However, setting at rest speculation on private maintenance of State highways, Mr. Siddaramaiah has decided to continue the three-year contract at a cost of Rs. 450 crores and allocated Rs. 150 crores for the purpose for 2005-06.

New trend

The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, as Minister for Public Works in the Krishna Government had set a new trend by handing over the maintenance of 7,327 km of State highways to private parties.

With a view to improving the state of MDRs, the previous Government had taken a policy decision to take up maintenance of 28,000 km of such roads in a phased manner at a cost of Rs. 180 crores. The Government had also decided to approach HUDCO for assistance.

However, in the budget speech, Mr. Siddaramaiah was more specific and declared that for maintenance of roads other than the State highways, there was a need to shift from ad hoc approach, currently being followed, to a more systematic approach based on a comprehensive road information system about the status of the roads and the amount spent on them.

Mr. Siddaramaiah has made an allocation of Rs. 83 crores for the maintenance of roads other than the State highways for 2005-06 and this amount will be spent in accordance with a plan of action prepared by the Public Works Department based on the Road Information System.

In addition to Rs. 83 crores, Mr. Siddaramaiah has made an allocation of Rs. 72 crores for upgrading roads.

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