By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The Union Ministry of Rural Development recently approved an amount of Rs 231 crore for 75 road projects proposed to be implemented in Meghalaya under Phase VII of the Pradhan Mantri Graham Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
A senior government official on Monday informed that the funds were approved during a recent meeting of the Empowered Committee in New Delhi.
“We are proposing to cover a total road length of 267 km under Phase VII. We are awaiting the sanction of the funds,” the official said.
He also informed that the State Government is currently preparing the DPRs for black topping of various kutcha roads under PMGSY.
“We are targeting to black top around 400 km of the PMGSY roads. We are contemplating to propose the black topping of the PMGSY road under Phase VIII,” the official said.
On the status of the projects under various phases, he said that two projects under Phase II are pending.
“The delay in completion of these two roads is due to the difficult terrain. We have sent for re-estimates of these projects since the delay has led to the escalation. The additional amount which would be incurred on these two road projects would have to be borne by the State Government,” the official said.
He also informed that three projects under Phase III are pending.
“One of the roads (Nongbareh to Amkoi in Amlarem) under Phase III continues to hang fire since the contractors quoted a very high rate. We have re-tendered the work on five occasions,” the official said.
He also informed that four pending projects under Phase IV would be completed within this fiscal year.
Out of the total 22 projects under Phase V, the source informed that a total number of 19 projects are expected to be completed by the end of December while one more project would be completed by 2014 March end.
Informing that one of the projects under Phase V proposed in Garo Hills is likely to be scrapped due to unavoidable circumstances, the official said that one of the projects proposed in Mawphu in Sohra would have be re-tendered since there was problem in the earlier tender process.
A total of 14 projects out of the 18 in Phase VI are making a good progress and would be completed by next year, the official said.
“We have to call for re-tendering for four projects under Phase VI since there was confusion among the contractors as it was the first tender which was done by way of e-tendering,” he said.
The official also informed that the World Bank has funded Rs 1070 crore over a period of five years (2010-2015) to construct rural roads under PMGSY. “The funds for the road projects from Phase VI onwards are through the World Bank funding,” the official said, adding, “The State would require around Rs 200 crore annually to be able to capitalize on the funds from the World Bank.”
The official also stated that the State Government would take steps to improve its dismal record of absorption of funds.