Hyderabad: A large network of district roads in the state will be handed over to private parties for maintenance.
The Roads and Buildings department has given some of the major district roads to private agencies for improvement and maintenance under a World Bank- funded project.
The main objective of the project is to improve safety measures by correcting ‘black spots’ with reduced visibility and sharp curves. The World Bank has been funding the project from the time of undivided AP.
The government now wants to give new stretches of roads in each of the 10 districts for private maintenance on a long-term basis with a mandatory condition of five-year maintenance with priority given to road safety norms.
Officials in the roads and buildings department said the roads selected under this project would be developed from single to double-lane and double to four-lane. The list of roads will be finalised soon. Payment will be made per km of road maintained.
A pilot project has been taken up with World Bank funds with road safety as the focus on a 125-km stretch of the Hyderabad-Vijayapura (Bijapur), Karnataka, road, said officials, adding that it is nearing completion.
Twenty sharp curves have been corrected on the road, accident prone areas have been identified and safety measures taken up.
Trauma care centres will be set up every 50-km distance and highway patrol vans and teams with first aid equipment will also be made available on this stretch. Other components of the project are translocation of 129 trees, proper road signs and alert boards and widening of stretches at required points.
