Jairam urges Odisha to overcome capacity gaps for road projects

Identifying capacity constraints in Odisha as the key roadblock to implement sanctioned road projects, Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh has urged the state government to set up 20 more project implementation units (PIUs) to speed up the projects.

"The state will have to establish a minimum of 20 more PIUs for expediting the sanctioned road projects. The state is having workload of about Rs 6000 crore and at present the state has engaged only 50 PIUs whose capacity is only Rs 3125 crore”, Ramesh wrote to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Ramesh informed that his ministry has opened up habitations with a population of over 100 in the 18 IAP (Integrated Action Plan) districts of Odisha for connectivity under Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

Since the list of the most affected blocks where PMGSY for such habitations have been taken up is already shared with the state government, the minister stressed on preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) at the earliest.

"You will agree with me that Odisha has received unprecedented assistance and cooperation from the Central government in the matter of rural roads particularly. However, around 13,000 km still remains to be sanctioned which indicates the magnitude of challenge ahead both for the state and Central governments. I wish to assure that we stand prepared to give clearance quickly provided the state government is able to submit the DPRs and expand contracting and implementation capacity accordingly”, Ramesh said in the letter.

The pre-empowered committee of the Union ministry of rural development today recommended for approval of 881 road projects covering 2982 km at a cost of Rs 1493 crore under PMGSY. All formalities for formal sanction are expected to be completed in 30 days.