One hundred bridges will be commissioned in the State in the coming 400 days, Minister for Public Works V.K. Ebrahim Kunju has said.
A monitoring wing under the Public Works Secretary will be set up to ensure prompt completion of the bridges. At present, 182 bridges and flyovers are being built by the PWD and agencies under it, he said after a PWD review meeting here on Monday.
Of this, the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK) is building 84 bridges; PWD (Roads and Bridges wing) 57; PWD (NH wing) 24; Kerala State Transport Project 15; and the Kerala Road Fund Board two. Commissioning 100 of them was crucial to avert traffic snarls, he said.
Mr. Kunju said Rs.1,441 crore had been allotted to the PWD for various infrastructure projects, including roads, bridges, and buildings, and an action plan would be in place to complete them in a time-bound manner.
He said the State’s precarious finances had not impeded the works and all projects under Mission 676 would be completed on schedule. Four projects taken up under the Sustainable and Planned Effort to Ensure Infrastructure Development- Kerala (SPEEID) scheme would be commissioned in 400 days. The commissioning of the Thalassery bypass might take more time.
He said the State and the Centre would share the expense of the Rs.700-crore Alappuzha and Kollam bypasses, for which the Centre had granted approval. These bypasses would be completed in 30 months. Similarly, works to widen the Kazhakuttam-Mukkola bypass in Thiruvananthapuram into four-lane would begin soon.
The Rs.117-crore Ponnani-Kozhikode coastal highway was under construction. Land acquisition and topography survey were under way on a few reaches.
The Thiruvananthapuram model city roads development programme would be introduced in Kozhikode soon.
Mr. Kunju said tender process for the first phase had begun.
The Kerala Road Fund Board had been asked to identify a mega project in each district and prepare a detailed project report.
Mr. Kunju added that housekeeping and catering at the PWD rest houses would be formally handed over to the Kudumbasree Mission.
