Shimla : Even though tarred roads are in a bad shape across Himachal Pradesh, the state’s PWD department cannot stop dreaming of building concrete roads in the hill state .
“A number of pilot projects have been initiated in the state to construct concrete roads in places where ground water is high or roads pass through slushy and densely populated areas.This will help make roads more durable ,†said Gulab Singh the state’s PWD minister , Thursday .
He said a start has already been made and so far 9.3 km concrete roads have been constructed in the state .
He said the construction of concrete roads was much higher than bitumen roads.While a concrete road costs Rs 45 lakh per km as compared Rs 12 lakh per km of bitumen road. But the life of a concrete road is four times more .
The minister said it was difficult to construct concrete roads on existing single-lane roads which are already open to traffic .Traffic cannot ply on a fresh concrete road for one month after construction .
In a 20 year career published widely. He has worked for the BBC, AFP, The Statesman, IANS and the Business Standard . Known for his hard hitting writing and occasional off-beat stories. He lives in Shimla.
