Coordination panel to be formed, will be headed by PWD Principal Chief Engineer
Panaji: PWD Minister Digambar Kamat on Tuesday said the state government will take up the construction of a utility corridor along a one-km stretch of road on a pilot basis to assess the cost, stating that utility corridors along roads are the only long-term solution to repeated road digging.
“The Chief Minister had told me to take up a one-km stretch of road and construct a utility corridor on a pilot basis to understand the cost, as it is expensive. That is the only solution in the long run. It will be done as per national highway specifications. Gradually, we can think of implementing it on other major roads,” Kamat said.
He was responding to Vasco MLA Krishna ‘Daji’ Salkar, who raised the issue of frequent and uncoordinated digging of roads by various departments and agencies for laying utility services. Salkar also suggested that the government come out with a comprehensive policy on road digging.
Kamat said instructions have been given to engineers to write to all utility departments seeking their plans one month prior to hot-mixing of any roads, and that the respective engineers would be held accountable if they fail to do so. He also said it has been decided to constitute a coordination committee headed by the PWD Principal Chief Engineer, comprising representatives of all utility departments, which will meet at least once a month to review the situation.
Pointing out that cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai have a single-window GIS-based road-cutting permission system, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai questioned the timeline by which the state government intends to implement such a system and reforms like GIS-based utility mapping and a ‘one road, one dig’ policy.
“GIS is already in place. In the next three months, we will roll out with PWD as the single nodal agency,” Kamat said.
Kamat also said discussions are in the final stage to increase the defect liability period from three years to five years.
“It will be the responsibility of the contractor. We will not compromise on quality,” he said.
