The Hindu : Small bridges to be excluded from toll

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 16, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Small bridges to be excluded from toll

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM JULY 15. The Government will amend the Toll Act to exclude small bridges from the purview of the Act, the Minister for Public Works, M.K. Muneer, told the Assembly on Monday.

Replying to a debate on the demand for Public Works, the Minister said toll was at present being collected on bridges costing more than Rs. 35 lakhs. This limit would be raised to Rs. 1 crore.

Mr. Muneer said two-wheelers would be fully exempted from paying the toll. The amendment would also specify that the toll should not be collected beyond 15 years. He said the National Transport Planning and Automation Centre (Natpac) had submitted its interim report on the proposed hill highway. It would be possible to take up the highway on receipt of the final report. The study on the proposed coastal highway had been completed. It would be built if there were takers for the construction of the highway under the `Build-Operate-and-Transfer' scheme.

The Minister said the work on the proposed express highway would be taken up only after a rehabilitation and resettlement plan was implemented.

Though there would be an access control to the highway, overbridges and underpasses would be built for people to move across the highway.

He said a quality control team would be set up with field officers and mobile units to keep a tag on quality. He said the current budget allocation was not sufficient to carry out all repair works. Hence the difficulty in maintaining the roads well.

The Minister said the Kochi Refineries would soon be producing 65,000 tonnes of rubber-modified bitumen to meet the entire requirement of the State. The Centre, he said, had issued orders specifying the use of rubber-modified bitumen for national highways.

He said that new MLA roads could be taken up only after the ongoing works on such roads are completed. After the Minister's reply, the House passed the demand (Rs. 483.57 crores) for 87 votes against 31.

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