Punjab ropes in private players for quality road construction

The Punjab government has decided to hire a private consultant to ensure that roads are constructed well by contractors. This was stated by Punjab PWD Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa today.

"During the previous regime, contractors were using sub-standard material for the construction of roads and with the connivance of PWD officials, they used to get the payment without any difficulty," the minister said.

The department had received some bids on road construction, he added. "The companies will get jobs on the basis of their track record," he added.

In an another major policy change in order to streamline the functioning of the department, minister said now onwards the contractors who would be awarded construction of roads would also be responsible for the repair of roads for the next six years, for which additional money would be given to him.

Change in the existing system was done to improve the condition of the roads in the long run, he said. If any contractor failed to abide by the guidelines of the contract, special clauses have been incorporated in the contract to blacklist him in the department apart from the forfeiture of his earned money.

As far as the construction of flyovers in the state was concerned, minister said 23 flyovers were under construction and four were in pipeline, including one road under bridge and three road over bridges.

Asked whether all new roads would carry the Toll Tax, Dhindsa explained that whatever toll roads were constructed currently were awarded by the previous government and it was not possible for the current regime to change the contracts.

"As far as construction of new roads in future are concerned, it has been in principle decided not to burden people any more", he added.

As far as National Highways in the state were concerned, if any toll tax imposed, that was due to the policies of National Highway Authority of India and state government has no role in it, he clarified.

On construction of link roads in the state, Minister revealed that the state government would get Rs 1500 crore from world bank in two phases apart from about Rs 70 crore from the central pool of taxes.

Dhindsa admitted that there were shortage of staff in the PWD department and revealed that the ministry has already requisited for appointment of 18 SDOs, and 40 junior engineers through the direct recruitment process.