Gujarat to adopt PPP model for rural area road construction

For its ambitious project to connect each and every village of Gujarat with a road network, the Gujarat government has decided to involve non-governmental organisations to fund such projects, it was announced here today.
During his speech in the Gujarat assembly today about budgetary allocations to his department, Gujarat State Road and Building Minister Nitin Patel gave details about the project, which has already begun in the state.
"In this budget, our department has made provisions to build roads to each and every village of Gujarat. This time, we have planned to build roads under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to provide best infrastructure to the people," Patel announced in the House.

He also appealed to local sugar factories, dairies, co-operative societies and Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) to contribute towards building roads using the PPP model in their respective areas.
"At present, we have planned three such projects using the PPP model. These include widening of the Chirai-Anjar road, the Surat-Olipad road and the Dakor-Sevalia road having cumulative length of around 85 km," Patel said.
In another major initiative for village roads, Patel announced that Rs 80 crore would be spent for low lying villages.
"Roads in low lying villages usually washed away after every monsoon and subsequent water logging due to low ground level. Thus, we have decided to rebuild these roads with cement and conrete to make them last long," Patel said.

He also added that an estimate of Rs 297.32 crore would be submitted to the Central government for their approval for the historical Ahmedabad-Dandi national highway project.