Minister for Public Works, Floriculture and Gardens & Parks, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari today said restoration of Demidullah Bridge in Homeshalibugh constituency has been included in World Bank priority list of projects. Assuring speedy completion of the project, he said restoration of this bridge at the cost of Rs 3.90 crore has been taken under permanent flood restoration work. The Minister informed this to a delegation led by Abdul Gaffar Sofi, senior PDP leader and former minister who had called on Bukhari at civil secretariat here today.Assuring speedy restoration of flood damaged roads and bridges in the State, Bukhari said while temporary restoration have been made especially on bridges by providing diversions, the government has taken all necessary steps to ensure permanent restoration of the damaged infrastructure especially with regard to bridges which are critical from the connectivity point of view.
He said due to September 2014 floods, the roads and bridges infrastructure got severely damaged in the State. Bukhari said 202 bridges at an estimated cost of Rs 259.86 crore have been sanctioned under Prime Minister’s Relief Package for flood damaged infrastructure during 2014-15. The execution of the works of these bridges, the Minister said, is in progress and are at various stages of execution.Bukhari said presently the department is in the process of formulating a comprehensive plan for permanent restoration of the left out roads and bridges in the State. For this purpose departments have been advised to identify the roads/bridges for seeking World Bank Assistance. The plan is expected to be formulated shortly and submitted to the concerned.Regarding improvement and upgradation of Khudwani-Sangam and Khudwani-Batpora-Arwani roads, Bukhari assured the delegation that all possibilities will be explored in order to take up both the roads for improvement and upgradation with the financial support from the World Bank.