Repairing broken pavements, central verges and manholes, resurfacing roads and sprinkling of water on them on a daily basis - these are some of initiatives that will be undertaken as part of the Delhi government's mega project to transform the city roads that will kick off from April 1. Addressing a press conference, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said about Rs 4,500 crore will be spent on the project in the first year and then Rs 2,000 crore every year.
The Delhi government will also introduce deep scrubbing machines and litter picker machines, he said, adding that it will also hire over 100 mechanised road sweepers, over 150 sprinkler tankers and 250 anti-smog-guns-cum-sprinklers. The chief minister said they will be transforming a total of 1,400 kms of roads that come under the jurisdiction of the Delhi Public Works Department.
He added that heavy penalties will be imposed on the contractor in case of any shortcoming in the project. The entire system will be monitored remotely from a dashboard and there will be a centralised complaint system for citizens to reach out to the government, he said. "The PWD has jurisdiction only on roads wider than 18m (45ft) across the national capital, and we will leave no stone unturned to transform them," he said.
Kejriwal said all the footpaths and central verges along the roads will be repaired when necessary. "This means that in contrast to the usual practice of replacing footpaths on the entire stretch as adopted by governments who want to spend away all public funds, in this project, we will take up spot-repairs.
"If one stone is missing, it will be replaced. If two are damaged, they will be repaired. We will not misuse public funds," he explained. Outlining the timeline for the project, he said the work orders will be issued by March 20 and the work will commence from April 1. He said the repair work will be completed within six months and once it is complete, a 10-year maintenance contract will be put in place.
Roads will be resurfaced every five years while regular painting of roads, medians, central verges will be taken every three to six months, he said. "All roads and footpaths will be washed in a daily basis or thrice a week," he said. He asserted that all central verges will be repaired along with damaged manholes, street furniture, railings, precast slabs, signages and electrical poles. "In all the city subways, the railings and light fittings will be repaired, as will the foot over bridges. Beyond these, civil and electrical repairs, all potholes and cracks on roads will be repaired," he said.
All railings, trees and plants around the roads will be washed as well, he said. The government is also introducing deep scrubbing machines to thoroughly clean the roads of all dirt and litter picker machines to pick up all littered material and debris from the roads. "We will hire over 100 mechanised road sweepers, over 150 sprinkler tankers and 250 anti-smog-guns-cum-sprinklers. There are 250 wards in Delhi and each ward will get one machine. The 150 sprinkler tankers will be deployed on the large PWD roads. "But the 250 smog guns will be handy in cleaning the smaller roads and lanes in the city. These machines too will be engaged for 10 years. 10,000 kilolitres of water will be needed for this purpose. We will be using the water treated at Delhi Jal Board's STPs for this purpose, instead of discharging it into the Yamuna," he said.
The Chief Minister said all posters, banners and other material stuck on roadsides will be removed on a daily basis, with the government taking up tree plantation on a very large scale on the roadsides and central verges. "A 10-year contract will be awarded for daily maintenance, washing, trimming, soil upkeep and watering of such plants. This project also needs rigorous monitoring, so we will deploy a third party monitoring system. "Camera-enabled vehicles will go around Delhi throughout the day and record the live situation of the roads and maintenance work," he said.
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