Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today reviewed the status of completion of several road and bridge projects in the State being undertaken by the R& B Department. She directed the Department to muster all resources to get the projects completed within time and in no way let the deadlines spill over.Mehbooba Mufti asked for sticking to the project timelines in order to avoid cost and time over run. Also the benefits thought of at the conceptual stage do not reach the deserving people fully if projects get delayed or over run, she told the meeting.The Chief Minister directed the engineers to give a proper thought to the designing and architectural pattern of the projects before starting the works. She said the race for creating concrete jungles should be avoided and instead aesthetically feasible designs be developed which are in tune with the local and historic building patterns of any area or region.The Chief Minister was informed that the Department has fixed a target of macadamising 1000 kilometres road length in Kashmir and Jammu provinces this year while as several steps have been taken to ensure quality material are used in projects.
The meeting was informed that under Central Road Fund(CRF) 72 projects have been taken up in the State out of which 65 have been tendered out. Similarly, under PMGSY 77% connectivity has been registered by May this year in the State which after the successful completion of Phase X would go up to 87%.Also, the Department has developed a model Standard Bid Document (SBD) for all CRF projects to steer ahead the works of any administrative or legal bottlenecks.Mehbooba Mufti also reviewed the pace on some important connectivity projects like Samba-Mansar road, Magam-Beerwah road, Ladoora-Achabal road, Gingal-Bijhama road, Rs. 158 cr Keerian Gandial bridge, Lisser road, Jothana bridge in Kathua, Sangam-Srigufwara road, Rs, 76 cr Kotranka-Khwaas road, Awantipore-Tral road project and other works; many of which are likely to be completed by this yearend or next year. Minister for R&B, Naeem Akhtar; Chief Secretary, B. B. Vyas; Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Rohit Kansal; Secretary, R& B, Sanjeev Verma; heads of several engineering wings and other officers were present in the meeting.