Rs. 1,000 cr. to repair rain-damaged roads in Karnataka

October 24, 2013

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The Hindu : Shimoga – Mandagadde road was blocked due to Tunga flood. File Photo: Vaidya

Public Works Department to take up work next month

The Public Works Department (PWD) will spend Rs. 1,000 crore to repair rain-damaged State highways and major district roads in the State.

Road repairs will be taken up from next month, Public Works Minister H.C. Mahadevappa told presspersons in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Action plan

He said that officials are preparing an action plan and they will submit it to the Finance Department for release of funds. About 1,000 km of main district roads and 177 km of State highways have suffered damage, he said.

The Minister said that road repair work would be completed by the end of February next year. The department had taken up repair work on 3,000 km of State highways in the first phase and work was nearing completion. Roads were damaged on account of heavy rain during the monsoon.

To a question, the Minister said that the government had cleared arrears of Rs. 250 crore owing to road and building contractors and another Rs. 850 crore would be paid soon.

Workshop

The Indian Road Congress and the Public Works Department have decided to hold a two-day regional workshop on promoting usage of new technologies, material, techniques and equipment in road construction, here from Wednesday.

The workshop will be held at Palace Grounds (Gayatri Vihar) and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Oscar Fernandes will release a souvenir. Mr. Mahadevappa will preside over the event. President of Indian Roads Congress Kandasamy and Secretary-General Vishu Shankar Prasad will participate.

Experts will shed light on evolving technologies in the construction of roads and bridges. Engineers and experts will deliver lectures on ‘Retro-reflective material for road safety signage’ and ‘Processed steel slag as alternate aggregate for flexible pavements’ and other related issues.

Daniel Berger, Director, Quality, Research and Development, Orafol Europe GmbH, Ireland, and other experts had been invited to the workshop, Mr. Mahadevappa said.

There would be an exhibition on the usage of manufacturing and slag sand in civil construction, application of new technologies, material, techniques and equipment and application of nanotechnology in civil constructions, he added.

Source-http://www.thehindu.com