Road Development

Corpn denies Egmore Stn Rd works were carried out

Wednesday, 04 November 2009 07:08 administrator

The Times of India 04.11.2009

Corpn denies Egmore Stn Rd works were carried out

TNN 4 November 2009, 04:30am IST

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation has denied that any part of the road widening and footpath improvement works on Gandhi-Irwin Road was taken up before tenders were finalised, as reported by TOI on Tuesday.

Referring to a photograph that accompanied the TOI report, an official release said: "The picture shows portions of the footpath which are in good condition. This work is not being carried out by this tender. The estimate is for improvement of footpath; the widening work has not been carried out."

The Nungambakkam zonal office had floated tenders last week for works for 290 metres on Gandhi-Irwin Road in two parts one covering Whannels Road and Kennet Lane and the other Kennet Lane and Egmore MTC bus stop.

Even as the corporation maintains that no footpath laying work was done, a notice issued by the assistant executive engineer to the contractor, a copy of which is with TOI, instructed the contractor to stop the "ongoing footpath laying work beyond its assigned area," as a separate estimate was sanctioned. This notice was issued on October 20, two days prior to floating of fresh tenders.

However, the official release called the work done by the contractor as "extra work... (which) has no relavance to the existing tenders."

The corporation has estimated the cost of the work, including removal of a couple of trees and pillar boxes and widening of the road at Rs 9.03 lakh. As many as 15 contractors purchased the tender forms from Ripon Buildings after paying Rs 1,688 each. The contractors alleged that they were told by officials not to participate in the tendering process as the job has already been completed.

The corporation challenged the allegations. "The very fact that 15 tender forms were sold for two tenders means that there was no restriction on participation. Tenders can be put in the drop boxes kept at four places, including the vigilance officer's office. It is virtually impossible to prevent anyone from dropping forms. And no complaints were received," the statement said.

Road to development needs breathing space, say experts

Tuesday, 29 September 2009 09:51 administrator

Indian Express 29.09.2009

Road to development needs breathing space, say experts

The Capital got its share of expert opinion on alternative urban planning at the recent Urban Habitat Summit, held at the India Habitat Centre. Newsline spoke to three experts and asked them to identify the single-most important issue in Delhi that bothers them, and how best to deal with it.

Over to the experts

Phillipe Rode, executive director, Dept of Urban Age, London School of Economics and Political Science
Even the short distance between India International Centre and the India Habitat Centre is an ordeal for Rode. “There are no proper pavements and signal meant for pedestrians don’t seem to work.”

The BRT corridor, he says, is the answer to the city’s traffic woes, besides fulfilling the need to have proper pedestrian and cyclist pathways. Rode says Connaught Place is the ideal model that upcoming city centres and private developers should emulate. “It is comfortable to walk around the area; it is an urban space that welcomes even those who do not have cars.”

Rode suggests stringent laws for private developers while giving out land: “They must ensure there are walkways or lawns for the public around the property, as in London.

“But they must ensure that ownership of this space lies with the government, which unfortunately is not the case in the UK.”

Manit Rastogi, managing director, Morphogenesis
Fed up of Delhi’s stinking drains, Manit Rastogi decided to deal with the issue head on. And what emerged is a “sustainable urban blueprint”, or the Nullah Project.

Rastogi’s solution focuses on converting the city’s 350-kilometre drainage network to green inter-connected walkways linked to mass transit routes. “The sewage flowing through these drains should be organically cleaned at source, as opposed to carrying the sewage through the length of the city to inefficient sewage treatment plants.”

So emerged a vision of green alleys flanked by clean drains, linked to major bus stops and Metro stations — a vision that may soon see light of the day.

“The Lieutenant-Governor has reacted positively to the project and it was decided last week to pick the Gautam Nagar drain as a pilot project.”

The project, when implemented, would solve multiple problems such as the issue of sewage treatment, provide for groundwater replenishment, and provide interconnected walkways, Rastogi says.

Sanjeev Sanyal, founder, The Sustainable Planet Institute
For Sanyal, the biggest issue in modern Delhi is the “walkability” factor. The ability to walk around the city is critical to many things, he says. “Public transport cannot work effectively unless there are proper walkways because that last mile to and from major bus stops and Metro stations has to be covered by walking.” Having authored a report on Walkability in Delhi, Sanyal says instead of creating more footpaths and pedestrian lanes, roads at most places are being broadened at the expense of footpaths. He says the solution is “very low-tech and easy to implement”: the government has to plan towards including well-designed walkways that autos and cars cannot encroach.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 September 2009 09:54

MC wakes up to residents’ woes, starts road repairs

Tuesday, 22 September 2009 11:05 administrator

Indian Express 22.09.2009

MC wakes up to residents’ woes, starts road repairs

After Chandigarh Newsline reported on the big potholes dotting Panchkula roads, the Municipal Council has done patch work as of now. While residents are relieved, MC claims the repair work would get completed in a week’s time.

“The condition of the road in the Swastik Vihar market in Mansa Devi Complex (MDC) is very bad. But with the Municipal Council having started the repair work, we expect some relief in the near future,” said Suman Verma, a resident of MDC. It was also added that while their several requests failed to move the council, it was after the matter was reported in the Newsline that the authorities woke up to the problem.

Similar sentiments were echoed by Sector-12 resident Rohit Batra, who said the repair work was long due. “Despite the fact that the council gets the repair and carpeting of road done in the city every few months, the quality of material used is so bad that the potholes appear after a bout of rain,” he said.

A senior official of the Municipal Council said, “While the problem of potholes has been a cause of worry for residents, we were waiting for the rainy season to end. The tenders were allotted a few months back, but we could not start the repair work. We have now started with the patch work in all the affected areas of the city.”

Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 September 2009 11:10

HMDA trims radial road project size

Monday, 21 September 2009 15:43 administrator

The Times of India 21.09.2009

HMDA trims radial road project size

TNN 21 September 2009, 05:04am IST

HYDERABAD: The cash-strapped Hyderabad Metropolitan Urban Development Authority (HMDA) has decided to pare down its ambitious radial roads project and take up only six instead of the proposed 33 roads.

While three road works - Tippu Khan bridge to APPA, Nanakramguda to Tippu Khan bridge via APPA - have already started, work on another three roads would begin soon.

The six radial roads were taken up as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to provide Rs 350 crore loan of the required Rs 480 crore. The state government had put December 2010 as deadline for developing the 33 radial roads.

Radial roads were proposed mainly to connect various parts of the city to the Outer Ring Road (ORR). These roads were identified based on traffic studies to increase connectivity to ORR from Inner Ring Road in the city.

Now, the urban development authority has confined it to only Nanakramguda to Tippu Khan bridge via APPA, Tippu Khan bridge to Narsingi, which is known as Gandipet road, Sagar road, Srisailam road which is a state highway, Tellapur road, Vikarabad road which connects up to Dundigal.

The Roads and Buildings (R&B) department has taken up these works which would be widened to 100 feet to 150 feet depending upon the requirement.

"For taking up the entire work, the HMDA requires Rs 2,500 crore. Of the total amount, Rs 750 crore are needed for acquisition of land for road widening. Since the HMDA is in a financial crisis and striving hard to mobilise funds for the PVNR Expressway, the remaining 27 radial roads have put on hold," a senior HMDA official said.

The 33 radial roads were divided into several categories depending upon the traffic flow. The roads were planned to be widened to four lane, six lane and eight lane. The road development plans included widening, construction of footpaths, central median with lighting and beautification works.

While the Huda would bear 30 per cent of the cost, the transport and R&B departments would chip in with 25 per cent cost. The municipal administration and urban development department would bear 10 per cent of the cost. The state government has requested the Centre to release the rest, 35 per cent, of the cost under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for these three roads. Detailed project report for three radial roads was sent to the Centre for funds. But the Centre rejected the proposal as these roads under JNNURM were not in their priority work list.

Outer Ring Road chief general manager G Jagannatha Rao admitted that only six roads were being taken up as JICA has agreed to give loan for roads which were top priority. "All the radial roads will be completed by the time the entire ORR is ready in 2012," the chief general manager said.

MCD to concretise select roads

Monday, 21 September 2009 03:13 administrator

The Hindu 21.09.2009

MCD to concretise select roads

Staff Reporter

It also plans to take up water harvesting on some stretches

Handing over the list part of routine exercise
“Continuous process of maintainance will be on”

NEW DELHI: To tackle damage caused to certain identified roads during each monsoon due to water-logging and potholes, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi will take up concretisation of these roads following the handing over of a list of 40 such roads by the traffic police to the civic agency recently. It also plans to take up water harvesting on these road stretches.

The list has names of all the roads that are worst affected. They include Palam Dabri Road, Loni Road, Naraina T-point, DDU Marg opposite Andhra School, Pusa Road, Pachkuyian road and Subhash Marg among others.

According to the civic body, the list was handed over as part of routine exercise of sharing and corroborating inputs about the road conditions and what needs to be done for their improvement.

A senior MCD official said: “We were already aware of certain roads in low-lying areas where there is always a problem of water-logging and potholes during rains. So we are now planning to relay these roads using the concretisation technique instead of using bitumen as done presently.”

“Thus we would be taking all possible steps to ensure that no road damage takes place and there are no potholes on these roads even if there are torrential rains. We also plan to start a water harvesting programme in the low-lying areas to ensure that the rainwater collected is taken underground for recharging of groundwater instead of being taken to the drains,” he added.

However, civic body officials admitted that it may not be feasible to implement this programme on all road stretches and only select roads would be included under the water harvesting plan.

The senior MCD official said: “Meanwhile as part of our continuous process to maintain our roads we would continue cleaning drains, clearing bell mouths and repairing potholes if found anywhere. This year there was hardly any major water-logging on our roads as we started our drain de-silting efforts last year itself instead of starting just before the monsoon season.”

Last Updated on Monday, 21 September 2009 03:16

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