BHUBANESWAR: The state government on Friday set a target to complete construction of 3,500 km
rural road under the
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) by spending Rs 1,115 crore during last quarter of this financial year.
Chief secretary
AP Padhi while presiding over the 31st state-level standing committee of PMGSY directed the officers to achieve the target. He emphasized upon co-operation of other concerned departments for early solution of bottlenecks to achieve the goal.
According to official sources, the Centre has so far sanctioned Rs 25,562 crore for 60,628 km of roads and 497 bridges in the state. Till December last year, 43, 222 km of all-weather roads and 214 bridges have been constructed with an expenditure of Rs 18,624 crore connecting 13,063 habitations.
Rural development secretary
Bishnupada Sethi said they have set a target to complete 7,000 km road by spending Rs 2800 crore in 2017-18. Meanwhile, the state government has completed construction of 3,534 km road with an expenditure of Rs 1,685 crore till December.
"Odisha stood first in this respect leaving behind
Madhya Pradesh with 3,332 km and Bihar 2,356 km of road work. Besides, our state became first in the country to include new technology for construction of roads," said Sethi.
Centre has fixed target to complete all the projects under the PMGSY-I within March 2019. Similarly, the state has set a target to complete 13,906 km of road in 2018-19.
