The Hindu 12.08.2013
Cement concrete roads to be laid at Kirana, Bande Bazaar
Estimated cost of the project increased to Rs. 3.2 cr.
Qamar-ul Islam, Minister for Municipalities and Local Bodies and Wakf, and district in-charge, has said that the design of the widened road of Kirana and Bande Bazaar leading to Nehru Gunj locality has been changed, and instead of a black topping road a cement concrete road with medians would be constructed.
The Minister, who chaired a review meeting of the development works taken up in Gulbarga city on Sunday, told The Hindu that the estimated cost of the road project has also been increased from Rs. 1.99 crore to Rs. 3.2 crore. As no contractor had come forward to take up the work, it has been divided into seven bids and fresh tenders would be floated. All the seven bids would be opened simultaneously and work awarded so tat all the seven works start simultaneously, and are completed on time.
To a question, he said that the work of the laying of the road would begin within three months. The meeting also gave its approval to the acquisition of the buildings on the Lalgiri Cross Road which had remained a bottleneck to take up the road-widening work there.
He said that out of the Rs. 200 crore sanctioned for Gulbarga city under funds granted for the Tier II cities for taking up infrastructure development projects, so far Rs. 145 crore has been released by the government. And, Rs. 5 crore was released a couple of days ago. The remaining Rs. 50 crore is the loan component which would be released in two instalments by the government. It is expected that Rs. 25 crore would be released within three months. The release of these funds would enable the authorities to complete the ongoing pending works taken up in the city.
To another question, he said that the State government in principle has also agreed to release Rs. 40 crore from the Rs. 145 crore released under the development of infrastructure facilities in the Tier II cities for the acquisition of the buildings for taking up road-widening works in Gulbarga. Once this fund is made available, other pending works could also be completed in Gulbarga.
On the bad state of roads in Gulbarga, Mr. Islam said that the meeting also decided to utilise Rs. 5.5 crore available with the government to fill potholes on a war footing.
A decision has also been taken to widen the existing four main roads in the city by paving concrete shoulders on both the sides of the existing roads to give more leeway for the easy flow of traffic and given an aesthetic look to the roads, he added.
