Special paint for fog-safe roads
December 5, 2013
TNN |
In a meeting on road safety at Mini Secretariat on Wednesday, deputy commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi said, “On roads which are less than 25 ft wide, the curves need to be highlighted by lane-markings and reflectors.”
Reflectors should be installed on the dividers and radium tapes wound around the trees on roads, so that they are easily visible to the commuters, he said. “The officers concerned must take the forest department’s permission to remove trees if any before widening a road,” said Vidyarthi.
Concerned about the defaced and misspelt sign boards in the city, the deputy commissioner asked the concerned authorities to get them rectified. He also asked the concerned agency to get all dysfunctional streetlights in the city repaired.
To ensure that school buses follow the safety guidelines issued by the Supreme Court, Vidyarthi asked the secretary, Regional Transport Authority, Dalbir Singh and district education officer Vandana Gupta to start a drive in cooperation with the traffic police. He also directed the city schools to display bus routes on notice boards.
Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Sonia gives 50 road projects to Rae Bareli
December 3, 2013
LUCKNOW: Exactly a week after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi inaugurated key railway projects in Sonia Gandhi’s constituency, the party president added more than 50 road projects, bank branches, one FM station and a rail project between Rae Bareli and Akbarpur, to the district’s already burgeoning gifts kitty.
Gandhi, who landed at Fursatganj airport on Monday morning, laid the foundation stone for more than 50 road projects under the Centrally-funded Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana as part of the UPA-II’s rural road connectivity endeavour. Sonia also inaugurated a water treatment plant supplying potable water to 110 villages, FM Rainbow, available at a frequency of 102.8 mhz, to inform and entertain people, and 13 new branches of United Bank of India in Harchandpur block.
Though the bounty, worth several crores also includes the Rae Bareli-Maharajganj-Akbarganj railway line, connecting Rae Bareli to Faizabad through the shortest railway route, the Congress did not seem to have deemed it fit to invite Faizabad MP and UPCC chief Nirmal Khatri.
During the day-long visit, Gandhi did not address a public meeting; she did, however, interact with people of the constituency at some places. A day before her arrival, farmers blocked the Lalganj-Unnao railway track and demanded jobs for their family members at the Rail Coach factory in Lalganj, as promised by Sonia during her earlier visits. The jobs, were to be in exchange of land for the factory, dubbed as Sonia’s dream project.
The farmers claimed that of about 1,340 families, who gave their land for the project, no job has been given to 128 families. Similar protests have been staged before Sonia’s previous visits to the constituency too. Back then, officials of the railway ministry and representatives from Sonia’s office met and took their applications. No discussions in this regard, though, were held on Monday.
Tunnel road project has gained momentum: Oscar
December 2, 2013
TNN |
MANGALORE: The much vaunted tunnel roadway through Shirady Ghat connecting the coastal city with Bangalore has gained momentum, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highway Oscar Fernandes said on Saturday.The six-day visit of Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko to India that got under way on November 30 and the scheduled state visit of Prime Minister of Japan in January for the Republic Day celebrations will further boost this project, Oscar said.In an informal chat with reporters on the sidelines of the inaugural of the 27th statutory conference of All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organization on Saturday, Oscar said the Indo-Japanese summit coinciding with the Japanese Emperor’s visit will give fillip to this project.
Indicating that the tunnel project through Shirady Ghat will be executed with assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency, Oscar said the state chief secretary and the PWD minister called on him in New Delhi recently and held extensive discussions in this regard. “We, at the ministry, have mooted the idea that a separate corporation be set up to execute the project,” Oscar said, adding that a final shape to it could be expected soon.
The idea of road tunnel through Shirady Ghat straddling the ecologically sensitive Western Ghat was first mooted at Global Investors Meet held under the stewardship of then CM D V Sadananda Gowda. The project was mooted as the current state of the National Highway through Shirady Ghat measuring nearly 40-km is in an unmotorable situation and breakdown on heavy vehicles on the treacherous hairpin curves lead to traffic jams.
More funds for state
With regard to unanimous demand made in the ongoing session of the state assembly in Belgaum that Karnataka needs to cash in on his presence in the ministry and obtain maximum funds for road development for the state, Oscar said, “I have placed myself at the disposal of the CM.”
“I am doing for Karnataka more than already mentioned. But this does not mean I will do something less for the other states,” he said.
Admitting that he has special feelings for the state as he hails from Karnataka, Oscar said, “We have allocated Rs 1,000 crore to Karnataka under Central Road Fund and the same will be reimbursed based on its utilization.”
He said various road schemes under CRF in Karnataka are in different stages of completion. These include Tumkur road that will be inaugurated by end of December, Hassan-Bangalore road shortly, and Kolar road in a week’s time.
Centre to approve more rural roads by FY15
December 2, 2013
Jaideep Deogharia, TNN
RANCHI: The central team of rural development department expressed satisfaction with Jharkhand over the performance of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) during the regional review meeting of east zone that started here on Friday. The team has agreed to sanction another 3000 km rural roads under the central scheme in the next financial year.
Officials from the rural development and rural works department of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha were here to give a presentation about the status of implementation of the scheme in their respective states. The meeting was chaired by secretary, Union rural development department, L C Goyal, who is also the vice president of National Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA).
S K Sathpathy, principal secretary, state rural works department, gave a detailed account of the achievements of Jharkhand in the current financial year. He said that a target of 2000 km rural road at an estimated cost of Rs 850 crores was fixed for the state. “We have spent around Rs 800 crore and are about to complete the target of connecting 1000 inhabitations under the scheme,” he said, expressing happiness that in the next financial year the state would be benefited by receiving the sanction t build yet another 1000 km rural roads.
Members in the team who went on a field visit to Saranda in West Singhbhum and remote villages of Ranchi, expressed satisfaction over the quality of roads being built under the scheme. Issues like preferring local contractors for execution of construction work in remote villages where the rebel groups are active were also taken up.
India invited to join UN’s World Amber Road project
December 2, 2013
Kounteya Sinha,TNN
VILNIUS (Lithuania): India, home to rich amber deposits that date back 50 million years, has been invited to join the World Amber Road, an exhaustive global project being spearheaded by the UN to develop tourism routes that run through areas rich in amber-commonly called natural gold.In a letter of invitation to India sent this month (a copy of which is available with TOI), the secretary general of the World Tourism Organization of the UN ( UNWTO) Taleb Rifai and the director general of Lithuania’s state tourism department Raimonda Balniene has invited India to share its rich knowledge of amber deposits in Gujarat and help develop the virtual Amber Road.
The initial part of the Amber Road project, the Lithuanian Amber Road, will be unveiled to the world on December 19 at Vilnius during the second world amber conference.
The idea to create the World Amber Road on the lines of the Silk Route, to map age old international trading points of amber, was first floated by Lithuania in June 2012.
Amber is a fossilized resin that takes millions of years to form and turn into stone. It is created through a defence mechanism of certain kinds of trees. When the bark is punctured, a sticky resin oozes out to seal the damage. It is usually yellow or orange in colour and transparent. Once the resin is expelled, it hardens and drops, eventually getting buried.
Over the next few thousand years, this resin gets fossilised and turns to stone. Several countries which are home to amber deposits—Russia, Poland, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine and Austria—have joined the project.
Hungary, Georgia, Jordan, Mexico and Dominican Republic, home to the rarest blue amber, are expected to join the project during the Dec 19 conference.
Belgium aid to promote road safety
November 29, 2013
TNN |
He added that princess Astrid, a great philanthropist, assured him of the fullest support and cooperation of Belgium government in reducing road fatalities in Punjab and invited him to Belgium to work out an action plan for the future. Soi explained that alliance with Belgium can help a long way in importing the know-how regarding road correction, and improving road safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and
motorcyclists in a complex spatial environment like that in Punjab.
30 buildings pulled down for road
November 26, 2013
TNN |
Tension prevailed when the demolition squad reached the area in the morning. Locals staged protest, alleging that the eviction drive was illegal. “The authorities had not served us any notice to vacate the land before carrying out the eviction. We have been staying in the area for the past so many decades and suddenly they came and evicted us. It is unfair,” said Sabitri, a resident of the area. To avoid any untoward incident, the district administration deployed eight platoons of police at the spot.
The authorities refuted the allegations. “In June last year, we had carried out eviction in the area but the evictees re-encroached on the lands. Due to fresh constructions, we were not able to move ahead with the road project,” said a government officer.
He said the drive was undertaken according to direction of the Orissa high court. During the first-phase eviction drive, seven persons were injured in a clash between slum dwellers and policemen.
BMC terms for road works drive contractors away
November 26, 2013
TNN |
The contracts, worth Rs 73 crore and Rs 97 crore, are for road repairs in the eastern suburbs and the island city.
The eastern suburbs are the most in need of attention after failing to get a single new road last year because of a court case.
Now, the boycott of sorts by contractors means people must continue suffering bumpy rides on the roads. As the tendering process is back to square one, many fear that the works would not get done even by next monsoon, the time of the year when roads suffer the most.
The municipal corporation now needs to decide whether to give some more time to contractors or go for a relook at the tender conditions.
Contractors said the municipal corporation had, for the first time, increased the defect liability period for cement-concrete roads to 10 years from five years and contractors were expected to keep a bank guarantee for 11.5 years, which included 15 months of project execution and 10 years ofthe defect liability period.
“The BMC every year changes norms and clauses to bid for tenders,” a contractor said. “So far this year the municipal corporation has issued four tender packets; the corporation has not allowed a joint venture in three packets and allowed a joint venture in the fourth packet. How can they have different rules for each packet?”
A source said that BMC rules allowed for joint ventures in projects that are worth more than Rs 25 crore, so it was illogical to not allow joint ventures in road projects.
Land acquisition cost puts the brakes on road projects in city
November 26, 2013
KOCHI,
Many overbridge and road projects in the city are becoming non-starters as the State government and the Kochi Corporation are scouting for funds to acquire land for the projects. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) funds only cover the projects’ construction cost.
On an average, a two-lane overbridge can be built for less than Rs.15 crore. But land acquisition and rehabilitation costs within the city may work out to around Rs.100 crore, which is around seven times the project’s cost.
The cost of land acquisition for a two-lane overbridge proposed at Atlantis works out to over Rs.100 crore. Similar is the case with Pachalam overbridge. Both the projects are hanging fire for over a decade, causing hardships to commuters. In the case of Thammanam-Pullepady Road, the cost of building a tarred road is just over Rs.20 crore, while expenditure for acquiring land at 18 metre width works out to over Rs.100 crore. The project cost for Goshree-Mamangalam Road is over Rs.23 crore, while widening the narrow stretch into four or two lane will cost more.
Chairman of the corporation’s town planning committee and former Mayor K.J. Sohan suggested narrowing down of four-lane bridges to two-lane wherever possible so that land acquisition is minimal. “Cost of land acquisition can further be brought down if bridges are built at 1:20 gradient – an elevation of a metre for every 20 metre distance,” he said.
The gradient as per JNNURM norms is 1:30, which would increase the bridge’s length. Though this specification ensures a less-steep bridge, the area of land to be acquired increases.
COST-EFFECTIVE
“Dilution of norms might result in denial of JNNURM funds. Even then, the financial liability on State government and the civic agency concerned would be much lesser for each project,” he said.
Source-http://www.thehindu.com
Polls put road project back on track
November 25, 2013
TNN |
SHIMLA: A road that passes through the apple heartland of Himachal and was a sensitive poll issue during assembly polls last year is still far from completion. While the previous BJP regime failed to ensure its completion, now, keeping in view the 2014 polls, Congress government in the state has fixed a deadline of December 15 next year to complete the road project.
The 80km road project, which has now become a bone of contention between BJP and Congress, was approved over five years ago. The project was awarded to Chinese government backed Longijian Road and Bridge Company on February 22, 2008, and was slated to be completed by June 4, 2011. After the Chinese firm sought an extension, the previous BJP government set fresh deadline of June 20, 2013, but even after this the project remained incomplete. As the company failed to meet deadline, the government finally cancelled the contract.
Sources said that the state government in February this year had sent fresh tender documents to World Bank. In the revised documents, a proposal was made to complete the project in two phases. Sources said the first phase was of 48km stretch from Theog to Kharapathar, while the second phase was for a 32km stretch from Kharapathar to Rohru.
Officials said a fresh contract agreement was signed with an Indian construction company on November 19 this year. “Codal formalities of both phases have been done and the company has been asked to mobilize resources by the first week of December,” said an official.
According to officials, the entire work would take around 30 months to complete. “Efforts are on to complete the project by December 2015,” officials added. The project cost has been worked out at Rs 323 crore.
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