Border Road Organisation personnel clear snow on a road in North Kashmir. (Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi/File)
Marking a significant shift in the construction philosophy of Border Roads Organisation (BRO), defence ministry last month approved the first major contract for a border road in engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) mode which will be awarded to a big private construction firm. BRO has so far been constructing roads as a departmental organisation thereby suffering from slow progress in completion of strategic roads in border areas.
Ministry sources told The Indian Express that the Project Approval Board, headed by the Defence Secretary, approved the award of contract for improvement of Baliparah-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) road under the EPC mode. The contract, which is worth more than Rs 200 crore, will upgrade the BCT road, the lifeline of Western Arunachal Pradesh, to a blacktop two-lane highway.
Earlier this year, finance minister had announced the construction of Sela Tunnel by BRO in EPC mode in the union budget for a cost of Rs 600 crore. Sela Tunnel also falls on the BCT road, which is now being constructed in the same manner.
“This has all been done since early 2017. BRO was earlier under dual control of ministry of roads and defence ministry, but since last year, we have delegated financial powers to the lowest levels of BRO. These delegations are greater than even NHAI and within one year, we are witnessing the difference in execution of works,” a defence ministry official said.
Last year, defence ministry had approved major policy guidelines about devolution of powers in BRO, particularly for adopting the EPC mode of execution, based on which the BRO may engage big construction companies for taking up road projects on a turnkey basis. All projects of more than Rs 100 crore have to be executed in EPC mode, after approval by the Project Approval Board. BRO had recently briefed the parliamentary standing committee on defence about its achievements following these changes.
It highlighted that 212 estimates, which would have earlier come to the ministry, were disposed at Chief Engineer level, and so were 253 cases of financial closure, besides 36 cases for downgradation of equipment that were dealt by chief engineers. The parliamentary standing committee has been highly critical of the performance of the BRO in its previous reports, holding it responsible for delays, missed deadlines and poor state of India’s strategic road network on China border.
Ministry sources said that Indo-China Border Roads (ICBR) have been a special focus of their attention, with 28 of 61 ICBR already completed and connectivity achieved in another 26 roads. Only seven alignments are still without connectivity, which would be achieved by 2021, they said.
“Take the example of Ghatiabaghar-Lipulekh road, which is used by yatris for Kailash Mansarovar every year. The Yatra is in the same time as the working season which makes it difficult to work. So we spoke to MEA this year and the yatris have all been heli-lifted for Kailash and the BRO work will not stop,” explained a defence ministry official. As per ministry sources, they have also heli-lifted road construction equipment to Budhi and Ganji this year, so that road construction can be attacked at multiple points and expedited.
Meanwhile, the ministry has also asked for more funds from the government for completion of 13 roads under the China Study Group (CSG), sources said. Of the 13 roads under CSG, which are funded under a separate head and monitored at the highest levels in the government, seven are still pending, including providing connectivity for one of the roads.