Shimla:To improve road connectivity in the hill state, National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has agreed fund construction of bridges with less than 60 meter span on basis of preliminary project drawings, Gulab Singh Thakur, public works minister stated.
After a meeting with NABARD officials, the minister, in a communiqué said that there were more than 125 bridges needing urgent construction and most of them were of less than 60 meter span. Preparing detailed project reports would take a long time for all these bridges, but for funding their construction NABARD has agreed to permit them on the basis of preliminary drawings, he said.
The minister said that the state had posed 133 projects costing Rs 632 crore to NABARD for funding of which 102 projects, which include 86 roads and 16 bridges worth Rs 287 crore, had been sanctioned.
During the current financial year the department had incurred an expenditure of Rs. 111 crore and 61 projects had been completed for which NABARD had reimbursed Rs 76 crore to the state government.
Under all types of funding facilities NABARD has so far sanctioned 893 projects which includes 692 roads and 201 bridges amounting to Rs. 1651 crore, said Gulab Singh. The government had incurred an expenditure of Rs 928 crore out of which NABARD has reimbursed Rs 734 crores, he said.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads the team of media professionals at Hill Post.
In a career spanning over two decades through all formats of journalism in Electronic, Print and Online Media, he brings with him enough experience to steer this platform. He lives in Shimla.
