Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir government has achieved more than 60 percent road macadamization target this year so far.
Roads and Building Department has set October 30 deadline for blacktopping the remaining 40 percent.
Chief Engineer Roads and Buildings, Rafiq Ahmad Rafiq told The Kashmir Monitor that the government this year had set 1483 kilometers road macadamization target for the valley.
He said the department so far has completed macadamization of 900 kilometers, which makes more than 60 percent of the annual target.
“Right now multiple road macadamization projects are going on in Kashmir. So far we have achieved progress of more than 60 percent and the rest 40 percent will be completed in October,” he said.
Rafiq said the department is simultaneously assessing the condition of the previously macadamized roads in the valley. “All the macadamized roads undergo a special technical assessment to see their condition post macadamization. Simultaneously, roads which have been previously macadamization are also being examined to see whether any patch requires immediate repairs,” he said.
Chief Engineer R&B said they are also working on 156 road projects sectioned under NABARD this year.
“This project is for three years. We are working to complete these 156 road projects in the stipulated time. The majority of the roads in Kashmir are in good condition as these roads didn’t suffer too much damage last winter,” he said.
Road macadamization in Jammu and Kashmir, as per the figures, has touched a record level of 20.6 km per day as compared to 6.54 km per day before 2019.
Under pothole free road programme, a target of 5900 kilometers was made for 2021-22 of which 4600 kilometers of road length have been made pothole-free to date.
Moreover, to prevent damage to roads during the snow clearance during winter, the R&B department has introduced a new concept of fitting high-strength poly material on the machines.
“This year we are using high-strength poly material edges on the snow clearance machines. It will not cause any damage to roads. Earlier, our machines had steel plows,” said chief engineer R&B.
Pertinently, Jammu and Kashmir was once again ranked among the top three performing States/UTs at the national level for construction of road length per year under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
Public Works Department (R&B) constructed a road length of 3284 km during 2021-22 and connected 114 habitations through road networks by executing 427 schemes in the year.__The Kashmir Monitor
