A total of 20 new key road projects have been completed in Chhattisgarh involving total cost of more than Rs 1,000 crore during the last financial year, officials informed.
The Chhattisgarh Government has informed that new roads measuring 1,320 kms have also been completed in left Wing Extremism (lWE) infested districts of the State under Centre's RRP-I scheme.
The roads were completed between 2011 to 2017, it was informed in a review meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand at the Mantralaya early this month.
The Chief Secretary told officials to seek help of police forces in case they encounter any problems during road development in insurgency infested areas.
The Chhattisgarh Government will soon take up the task of constructing a total of 98 roads in seven districts of the State under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
The districts where the roads would be constructed are Sukma, Rajnandgaon, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kondagaon, Janjjgir-Champa and Kanker, officials informed.
A total of 6,372 rural roads measuring 26,815 kms had been prepared in Chhattisgarh so far involving an expenditure of Rs 7,880 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana during the current financial year so far.
This was informed by officials in the State-level permanent committee meeting of Chhattisgarh Rural Roads Development Authority chaired by chief secretary Vivek Dhand at the Mantrlaya in March this year.
A total of 6,697 rural roads had been approved by the Central Government measuring 29,562 kms under PMGSY.
A total of 105 new roads would be constructed in various districts of Chhattisgarh under batch-II of the project work under PMGSY, officials informed.
It may be recalled that the worst insurgency infested districts of Chhattisgarh would be able to further provide a boost to rural road connectivity work with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely "Road Connectivity Project for left Wing Extremism (lWE) Affected Areas".
The project is aimed at improving the rural road connectivity in the worst lWE affected districts from security angle, officials informed.
The project will be implemented as a vertical under PMGSY to provide connectivity with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures in 44 worst affected lWE districts and adjoining districts in the country, critical from security and communication point of view. The roads will be operable throughout the year irrespective of all weather conditions.
Under the project, construction/upgradation of 5,411.81 km road and 126 bridges/Cross Drainage works will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 11,724.53 crore in the above district.
The fund sharing pattern of lWE road project will be same as that of PMGSY ie in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and States for all States except for eight North-Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10.
The Union Ministry of Finance will have to allocate to Union Ministry of Rural Development Rs 7,034.72 crore for this project during the period of implementation 2016-17 to 2019-20.
Chhattisgarh Government has set 2018 deadline to complete construction of an additional 3,000 kms of road network with an investment of USD 2.34 billion.