MANGALORE: The State Government would take up work on concreting the Shiradi Ghat stretch on national highway 48 (Mangalore-Bangalore) if the Union Government transferred the stretch to the State, H.D. Revanna, Minister for Public Works, said here on Wednesday.

Addressing presspersons, he said the ghat section had been damaged to a great extent.

The State had submitted a proposal to the Centre to convert the 40-km stretch on the section as a concrete highway at an estimated cost of Rs. 100 crore. But the Centre had conveyed that it could sanction Rs. 7 crore for it.

As the ghat section had been severely damaged, developing it as a concrete highway was the only way to prevent it from getting worse during rainy season every year.

A scientist at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who inspected the stretch in his report had also recommended converting the ghat section as a concrete highway. The Rs. 7 crore promised by the Centre was not enough for the purpose.

The State would again ask the Centre to sanction the required funds (Rs. 100 crore). The Centre should either improve the ghat section or it should hand it over to the State to take up works, he said.

The Minister said that in 2005 the State had submitted a proposal to the Centre to concrete only the curves in the ghat section at an estimated cost of Rs. 9 crore. But the Centre did not approve the proposal.

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