State to aid NH repairs

KOCHI: The State government will fund the repair of national highways and the works will be implemented in two phases, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has said.

The road repairs will be completed before August 15. Engineers will be given an imprest fund of Rs.50,000 each to carry out timely repairs. Funds will also be allotted for resurfacing of roads, he said after a meeting with the officials concerned here on Tuesday.

Dr. Isaac said the tender for the resurfacing of roads would be issued in October and the work would begin in November.

The government had decided not to wait for the Centre to repair the roads. It was estimated that a sum of Rs.20 crore would be required for the work, he said.

The failure to undertake pre-monsoon repairs and the delay in carrying out regular maintenance had damaged large tracts of national highways in the State. The government was planning to allot the repair of 13 roads at Sabarimala on a long-term basis, Dr. Isaac said.

A proposal for creating drains on the flanks of the roads would be considered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The scheme would be launched after the monsoon. The lack of storm-water drains was one of the reasons for the roads getting easily damaged, he said.