Jayasurya to inaugurate initiative regarding road maintenance
Starting next year, Public Works Department officials will file monthly reports, with photographs, after inspecting the condition of roads in the State, Minister for Public Works P.A. Mohamed Riyas said on Wednesday.
An officer of the rank of assistant executive engineer has 500 km of roads under his/her purview. The inspection reports would be scrutinised by the chief engineer and his own office, Mr. Riyas said. He said a special team would be formed for inspecting the quality of road construction.
Mr. Riyas and actor Jayasurya will inaugurate an initiative for publishing details regarding the maintenance periods of roads in the State on December 4. MLAs will inaugurate the initiative in their constituencies by December 10.
Boards indicating the defect liability period (DLP) will be installed on the roads. The boards will carry the name of the contractor, phone number and name and contact details of the PWD official concerned. The DLP is in effect in 2,514 road projects.
The condition of roads had been in the news lately after the Kerala High Court pulled up officials for the improper maintenance of roads.
Mr. Riyas said that repairs would be kicked off once the rain subsided. The department was also exploring technologies which enabled road works during the rainy season. The State Government had sanctioned ₹273,.41 crore for the repairs this year. Last year, ₹180 crore was sanctioned.
Running contracts would be issued for roads once the maintenance period expired, which was a first for the State, he said. An amount of ₹137.41 crore had been cleared for this initiative, he said.
The PWD had recorded a collection of ₹27.84 lakh by allowing public access to PWD rest houses. In all, 4,604 people had made online bookings, he said.
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