Shimla: Abandoned by a Chinese company, the revised detailed project report (DPR) of the Theog – Kotkhai – Rohru road project is now to split into two packages with the cost estimated to have escalated by over Rs 75 Crore, the Vidhan Sabha was informed today.
In reply to a question by Rohit Thakur, the congress legislator from Jubbal – Kotkhai, chief minister Virbhadra Singh said that revised DPR has put the cost of the project at Rs 304 Crore. The earlier DPR had put the cost of widening and improving the road at Rs 228.25 Cr, he said.
So far only Rs 70.67 Cr had been spent on the important road project that passes through the apple heartland.
The chief minister informed the house that the project work had been divided into two packages and had been put before World Bank, the funding agency of the infrastructure project.
Tenders would only be invited for the contract work after the revised DPR is approved.
Of the 80 Kms of road length involved, road cutting had been done for 47.74 Kms, granular sub-base had been laid for 16.64 Kms, dense bitumen had been laid on 7.56 Kms, of the 240 culverts designed for the road only 87 stood constructed, of the 14 bridges proposed, 3 had been partially constructed and of the 31.52 Kms of retaining wall required to stabilize the road only 3.86 Kms of it had been put up, said the chief minister, who is also the minister for public works.
The pollution control board had accorded sanction for the project on 26th December, 2006.
A total of 17.79 hectares of private land had been acquire for the road for which Rs 14.29 Cr has been paid as compensation.
Since August, 2012, PWD department was maintaining the road, said the chief minister.
The road contract was awarded to Longjian Road & Bridge Co. but not being able to meet the deadlines, the Himachal Pradesh government had terminated the contract in July, 2012.
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.
