Road work: Kerala government sanctions part payment of 1 crore

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the payment of bills towards the implementation of the project ‘Restoration of Airport-Shanghumugham Beach Road’ in the city.
The Public Works Department (PWD) has been directed to submit the detailed expenditure report and utilization certificate for the fund allotted. The government has sanctioned this sum after the chief engineer (Roads) had requested to sanction Rs 1,00,26,853 towards the payment of part bills of already completed works of the project.
The government gave administrative sanction for the restoration of the Beach Road for an estimated cost of Rs 5.39crore by sourcing requisite funds from the Development Policy Loan.Subsequently, the estimates for the work were revised twice to Rs 5.95 crore and Rs 8.05 crore.
Later, the rate for the additional work of 115m was approved at an estimated cost of Rs 3.32 crore. The government had allotted an amount of Rs 50 lakh as the first instalment for the project.
The chief engineer (roads) informed that no fund has been utilized for the project in 2021-22 as bills were not submitted and that the allocated fund was resumed completely at the close of the previous fiscal. Meanwhile, potholes surfaced on the newly-tarred Shanghumugham Road led to criticism from various corners. PWD officials clarified that it happened due to the nature of the current work.
The officials said that the diaphragm wall has been constructed and soil anchoring is being done to strengthen the wall. The officials said that before the work begins on the second layer, all potholes would be cleared.