Amid criticism over the delay in several smart road works taken up under the Smart City project in the capital, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty and Transport Minister Antony Raju on Tuesday held a review meeting with officials of the city Corporation, Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Limited and the Kerala Road Fund Board (KRFB) in which fresh deadlines were issued for the completion of the works.
Though Smart City Limited was earlier given a deadline to complete 14 of the road works by May 31, only seven roads have become motorable as of now. Three of the works, including the Kothalam Road, General Hospital-Vanchiyoor Road and the Sreemoolam Road, will be completed only by August due to ongoing sewerage works. The ongoing works on the rest of the roads will be completed by July. The work on the Manaveeyam Veedhi is expected to take atleast three more months. The ongoing pipeline works of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) have also caused delays in some stretches.
40% higher rate
The KRFB officials said in the meeting that some of their major works had been tendered, but had been sent to the State government for approval since most of the bidders had quoted 40% above the normal rates. But, it was unlikely that these proposals would be accepted, which could lead to further delays.
One plan is to carry out temporary surfacing of some of these roads until all the permissions and paper work are completed for the shifting of utilities underground. Even in the case of roads on which tenders have proceeded smoothly, the presence of utility cables underground during excavation have delayed the work.
Considering the delays, another plan is to use larger pipes to carry the utility cables underground instead of concrete pathways in the smaller roads so that the work can be completed much faster.
Most of these roads were dug up three years ago. The dug-up roads have been causing difficulties both to motorists and pedestrians and have resulted in a few accidents too over the past couple of years.
