The Chhattisgarh Government has completed construction of 5,266 cement concrete (CC) roads having a total length of 1,530 kms in various villages of the State as on May 31, 2016 under 'Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Yojana', officials informed.
Till date, 6,182 works have been approved for construction of concrete roads measuring 1,734 kms, under this scheme. A sum of Rs 1,038 crore have been sanctioned for these works.
Panchayat and Rural Development Department officials informed that 'Mukhyamantri Gram Gaurav Path Yojana' was started in year 2012-13, on the lines of Gaurav Path scheme being in cities, under which cement concrete roads and drains are constructed in villages.
This scheme has provision to build roads of minimum 200m and maximum 500m length, with width of 6m. Under this scheme, it is compulsory to build drain on one side of the road.
Officials informed that 88 per cent of approved works, including ongoing works of year 2015-16, have been completed at the cost of nearly Rs 711 crore.
Budget provision of Rs 250 crore was made for Mukhyamantri Gaurav Path Yojana for year 2015-16. In the current fiscal year, Rs 175 crore have been provisioned in the budget.
The Chhattisgarh Road Development Corporation (CGRDC) has identified 61 different projects for construction of roads.
Out of 61 roads, 56 roads covering length of 1,859.25 kms have been identified for development under Hybrid Annuity Model and 5 roads under (BOT) Toll model, officials stated.
CGRDC will be using both web and mobile based 'Project Management System'.
The project is part of the Integrated Project Management System (IPMS) to monitor road development projects in the State, officials stated.
The Chhattisgarh Government has adopted Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for development of roads in the State.
The State Government is planning to construct roads measuring 13,000 km with an investment of Rs 42,000 crore over the next three years. The budget allocation during 2016-17 for this is a massive Rs 6,101 crore, representing an increase of 56 per cent over the preceding year.
A total of 12 roads have been marked under Chhattisgarh State Road Development Project, out of which work on developing six roads has already been started, officials stated.
This year, 3724 kms of roads have been built and upgraded and construction of 41 bridges has been completed. Construction of 123 bridges is in progress.
It may be recalled that the Centre had also approved as many as three new National Highway projects in Chhattisgarh during the past three financial years.
The cumulative cost of the highway projects stood at Rs 150.37 crore, officials stated.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has approved Rs 3,300 crore for broadening and upgradation of the National Highways in Chhattisgarh.
In July this year, the Central Government had also announced that it would award contracts for three key road projects in Chhattisgarh measuring 149 kms to be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 3,522 crore this year, officials stated.
The Central Government had also sanctioned an amount of Rs 305.56 crore for 10 important works under Central Road Fund Scheme during 2015-16 in Chhattisgarh, officials stated.
These 10 works include construction of one road route, two Railway over-bridges and under-bridges, one fly-over and bridge.
PWD Minister Rajesh Munat had stated that these works have been approved by Central Government this year for ensuring smooth traffic movement in busy areas of the State.
The Chhattisgarh Government would also spend Rs 1500 crore for laying a network of roads across the State.
This was informed by officials in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh recently at his official residence here recently to review road projects taken up by the State Public Works Department (PWD), officials stated.
The Chief Minister during the meeting had taken stock of the network of 3,000 kilometres of national highways passing through the Chhattisgarh State.
Singh had a detailed discussion with officials regarding the national highways which had been sanctioned by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari to Chhattisgarh.
It may be mentioned here that the target is to lay 3,275 kilometres of national highways worth Rs 20,500 crores and the works will begin by the end of this year. The Chief Minister had a discussion regarding the upgradation and widening of 126 km long road from Raipur to Bilaspur.