Shutting of bitumen plants in winter may affect road recarpeting work

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, November 19

Work on the recarpeting of major roads might suffer with bitumen plants closing due to winter in mid-December. MC officials are making efforts to complete at least 50 per cent of the work before the closing of bitumen plants. The Municipal Corporation would spend Rs 76 crore on the recarpeting of roads and streets in the city. A tender for road maintenance work had materialised in September. As per the MC proposal, 50 per cent of the roads would be recarpeted with bitumen, 40 per cent with concrete and cement (CC) flooring and 10 per cent with the interlocking tiles.

According to the information available, during the last two months, only 16 per cent work has been completed. Now with a dip in temperature, work on recarpeting roads would slow down. The bitumen plants would also close in mid-December for two months. However, MC officials claimed that they have expedited the work of constructing roads but it may get disrupted in December. MC officials claimed that they would complete at least 50 per cent of the work by mid-December. Along with this, the work on smart road outside the Walled City will be completed.

“The Municipal Corporation is focusing on roads being built with bitumen. After the closure of the bitumen plant, the MC will continue the work on roads with CC flooring and interlocking tiles,” said an MC official.

Apart from this, the MC would spend a significant amount in the Focal Point area where residents have been facing inconvenience for a long time. To change the face of the Focal Point, the Municipal Corporation has already issued a work order worth Rs 1 crore and started work on parks, street lights and sewerage system. The Municipal Corporation had issued an e-tender worth Rs 2.44 crore for the recarpeting of roads in Focal Point. The MC has sent this e-tender to the Local Bodies Department, Chandigarh, for vetting.