Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

No road-cutting during rainy season

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Transfer of development rights is to be introduced for widening roads and construction of new roads as in other States and no road-cutting is to be permitted during the rainy season, from May 25 to August 5 and from October 16 to November 15 every year.

These are among the key recommendations of a task force constituted to look into the best practices on road construction, which had been approved by the government.

It has also been decided to incorporate the conditions in the agreement with utility providers and suitably modify the Kerala Highway Protection Act 1999 and the Kerala Building Rules.

Separate utility corridors had been made mandatory for all new road constructions and utility providers should form a consortium to share the cost. When land is acquired for developing new roads and for widening, provision should be made for utility ducts and corridors.

Crosscutting of PWD roads will not be permitted, instead ‘push through systems' without cutting the road will have to be adopted. Horizontal laying of cables through directional drilling system has been mooted for laying cables.

The utility providers should nominate a nodal officer for a particular stretch of work and his name and contact number intimated to the executive engineer of the division. The officer will have to ensure that caution boards are displayed and that no accident takes place on the stretch.

To ensure quality, restoration works after digging are to be arranged by the PWD in continuation of the project with least disturbance to the public at the expense of the utility provider. However, the service provider will be responsible for refilling of the trenches.

A single agency in each division has been mooted for attending to minor patchworks and for the restoration works and damaged system due to digging.

Contractors to be empanelled for the next two to three years should have to undertake petty repair works. Five per cent excess amount is to be granted based on availability of labour and rates of materials.

Debris has to be removed from the site within 24 hours by the service provider or else a penalty of Rs.500 a day will be realised from the salary of the executive engineer/ nodal officer. The maximum fine is Rs.25,000.

The consortium of utility providers should be set up under the executive engineer, PWD roads, to avoid multiple cutting of roads and for effective coordination. The PWD will have to meet the expenditure of shifting of the existing utilities on roads.

Compaction of earth before surface laying is to be made compulsory and the assistant engineer concerned will be liable for restoration of the roads if digging is done violating the guidelines.

A building line (distance from centre of road) of 35 metres is to be enforced on NH 17, 47, 203; 25.50 metres on NH 47A, C, 49, 208, 212 and 220; 18 metres on State highways; and 10.5 metres on MDR roads.

The building line has been recommended as residential, commercial and public buildings are built near or on the edges of roads hampering development of the roads.

The PWD should prepare a map of all PWD roads with the help of the Kerala State Remote Sensing Agency and CESS to make development plans of roads taking into account the traffic flow.

A committee chaired by the Chief Secretary with the Principal Secretary, PWD, as convener had been mooted to oversee the digging activities at the State-level for one year.

The calendar of works and the road map for the next year has to be approved by the committee.

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