Himanta Biswa Sarma paints would-be rosy picture of roads

* Asom Mala set to be a reality with Rs 5,000 crore for 3 years

* Road construction under SOPD with Rs 3,400 crore

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Sept 25: State PWD Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma painted a would-be rosy picture of the grim roads of the State on the floor of the State Assembly on Tuesday. He has dropped a broad hint that since there is no dearth of funds the roads in the State are in for better upkeep.

Sarma has said that roads are a priority sector of the State Government. “We’re going to launch a new road construction scheme – Asom Mala – with Rs 5,000 crore for three years. Only roads yielding economic benefits will be chosen under this scheme. The selection of roads will be strictly MIS-based (Management Information System-based), keeping recommendations for selection at bay,” Sarma said.

The PWD Minister said: “We’re also going to release Rs 3,400 crore more for the development of roads under the SOPD (State-Owned Priority Development). Every LAC is to get up to Rs 40 crore under this scheme,” Sarma said, and added: “MLAs need to recommend major roads with greater importance in connectivity. However, some MLAs have disappointed me by recommending some small roads. We’ve taken a decision to make public the roads recommended by MLAs under this scheme in the website. Now on the contractors won’t have to face dearth of funds. However, they’ll have to expedite the pace of works.”

Sarma further said: “We’ve allocated more funds for PWD in the supplementary demand for the current fiscal.”

The minister further said: “Within the next three years all wooden bridges in the State will do a vanishing act as RCC bridges are set to replace them.”

The minister said this while responding to queries from AIUDF MLA Mamun Imdadul Haque Choudhury and Congress MLA Nurul Huda during the Question Hour.