Single agency to handle road repair work from January 1

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 28

A single agency will repair roads in all the 22 districts of the state starting 2018. In an effort to streamline repair work of roads that is usually hampered due to lack of clarity on jurisdiction and low volume of work in some cases, the state government has decided to let a single agency handle the work.

The repair of roads in the state is presently being carried out by five different agencies – PWD (B&R), Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB) and Urban Local Bodies (Municipal Corporations, Councils and Committees) depending upon the area under their jurisdiction.

“The single agency will begin the repair work from January 1 and PWD (B&R) will be the nodal department for this purpose. This will end complaints of delayed repair of roads and there will be no confusions regarding jurisdiction. The work will also become financially viable for contractor,” Minister for Public Works Department Rao Narbir Singh told The Tribune today. The state has a good road network with a total length of 26,062 kms. Of these, 2482 km are national highways, 1801 km state highways; 1395 km major district roads and 20,344 km other district roads.

Sources said that various government departments spend Rs 60,000 per kilometre eacg year on the repair work.

Sources said that while some “other district roads” connecting villages with the cities are built and maintained by the HSAMB, many others come under PWD (B&R). Similarly, the “major district roads” also come under different agencies like urban local bodies, HUDA, HSIIDC and PWD (B&R) depending upon the area where they fall and the agency that has built them.

“Sometimes, agencies like HUDA, HSIIDC or urban local bodies fail to take up repair work soon after it comes to notice because it is not financially viable for the contractors to arrange hot mix plants and other machinery for 10 to 20-odd patches. However, when all the roads are repaired by a single agency, it will become viable for the contractors as well,” Rao said.