Work on infrastructure development programme to begin in two months

VILLUPURAM: Work on the Rs.729-crore Comprehensive Infrastructure Road Development (CIRD) programme will begin in two months.
As part of the programme, improvement and widening of roads, coming under the control of the State Highways department, will be taken up. The total length of the roads to be covered under the programme this year is around 3,200 km. Forty-two bridges and culverts will also be built.
About 10 days ago, the department issued a government order, directing the Chief Engineer (General) to take up the works early. A senior government official said the necessary groundwork for most of the works had been completed. The execution would begin by September end or early October.
More time would be required for the bridges as the designs have to be scrutinised before floating bids. The department proposes to complete the other works within six months to one year.
Of the sanctioned amount for the current year, Rs.310 crore has been set apart for State Highways (SH); Rs.224 crore for Major District Roads (MDR) and Rs.132 crore for Other District Roads (ODR). Works costing about Rs.62 crore, under the Special Component Plan, will be executed to cover different stretches of ODR to improve connectivity to habitations of Scheduled Castes.
In terms of regions, the southern districts, covered by the Madurai and Tirunelveli circles of the department, have been sanctioned Rs.220 crore. The central parts of the State — Tiruchi circle — have been given Rs.120 crore, while the Chennai circle, comprising the districts of Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts, has been allotted Rs.100 crore. The remaining parts of the State, under the jurisdiction of Salem, Coimbatore and Villupuram circles, have been sanctioned a total of Rs.290 crore.
During 2006-2007, works costing around Rs.680 crore were completed under the same programme.