Road_norms

The Indian Government has announced plans to relax norms on the development of the road and highways sector in the north-eastern states.

Union road transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari said that the relaxation norms will benefit states such as Arunachal Pradesh.

Developers in the state who have less experience in carrying out projects will also be allowed for the construction of the Trans-Arunachal Highway project.

In order to expedite and promote the state’s road development, the large projects will be divided into small portions to be handled by local contractors.

"The ongoing work on the trans-Arunachal Highway project should be completed immediately."

Gadkari further noted that the ongoing work on the trans-Arunachal Highway project should be completed immediately.

In order to match the relaxed norms, the remaining work is expected to be divided into small packages, according to PTI.

Local contractors, who feel neglected on being deprived of any contract, would be trained during a workshop by the ministry’s engineers at Itanagar in January to follow the central guidelines.

The contractors in Arunachal Pradesh who qualify for any work on sole condition of maintaining the quality of work would be given an advance of 10% to purchase equipment for the job.

Proposal was also submitted for survey and investigation of the proposed 2,000km Tawang-Vijoynagar road along the MacMohan line and INR80m ($1.2m) for the proposed 431km East West Highway from Bhalukpong to Ruksin.

Image: The relaxation in road development norms will benefit states such as Arunachal Pradesh. Photo: courtesy of dan on FreeDigitalPhotos.net.