Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju has said that 10 per cent of the State Highway will be made four-lane and the remaining, two-lane, as per the national standards.
Launching the e-tendering of the Public Works Department (PWD) and the portal www.etenders.kerala.gov.in at a function here on Wednesday, the Minister said the four-laning and two-laning of the State highway would be given priority in the road policy being chalked out by the government.
The department was also planning to come up with a short-term and long-term policy for the development and maintenance of roads.
The PWD Minister said the thrust of the proposed road policy would be on well-designed roads that could bring down the mounting accidents in the State, offer better riding comfort to the motorists, reduce the wear and tear of the vehicles, and bring down the cost of maintenance. New technologies and materials would be used for road construction.
Pointing out that the UDF government had allocated Rs.1,200 crore to the PWD for roads since it came to power this year, Mr. Kunju said it showed the commitment to developing the road network in the State.
The Minister said the e-tendering, which was launched after overcoming several hurdles, would be extended across the State within two months.
Besides, the system would make the PWD more efficient and transparent in the dealings and reduce the time for processing tenders. Publication of tender documents and acceptance of the tenders for all works under the Superintending Engineer (South zone) of the PWD would be done on the web portal.
PWD Manual
On the PWD Manual, the Minister said it had been cleared by the Finance Department and it would be implemented after the Cabinet cleared it. The Assembly had to approve the PWD Code and efforts were on to upgrade the PWD Data Book, he said.
Manoj Joshi, Secretary, Public Works presided over the function. V.P. Joy, Principal Secretary, Finance; Mohammed Haneesh, Managing Director, Roads and Bridges Development Corporation Kerala; and K.S. Sreenivas, Special Secretary, IT, attended the meeting, among others. e-tendering is being implemented as part of the National e-Governance Programme (NeGP) using the software of the National Informatics Centre with financial assistance from the Union government through the Kerala State Information Technology Mission.
