Port Blair, Mar 09: Rural Road Connectivity is a key component of Rural Development by promoting access to economic and social services and thereby generating increased agricultural incomes and productive employment opportunities, it is a key ingredient in ensuring sustainable poverty reduction.
The spirit and the objective of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is to provide all-weather road connectivity to the eligible unconnected Habitations.
The Andaman & Nicobar Islands have a vast network of rural roads having a length of 1009 kms, spread across the three districts. Most of the roads are black topped.
The works under the scheme are sanctioned by the Ministry based on the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) submitted by the respective State/UT Governments. In preparation of DPRs, the State Governments factor into the cost necessitated due to physical and environmental factors such as, topography, soil type, climate, traffic density, rainfall and also considering the requirements of cross drainage (CD) works, drains, and protection works as per site duly following the technical specifications prescribed by the Ministry of Rural Development. The geography and related factors are, thus, considered at the time of preparing the cost estimates for the individual road work.
The proposal of 56 no. road works under PMGSY-II sent by the UT Administration got approved in the Empowered Committee meeting held recently for 115.37 Kms. The total no. of roads in the North & Middle Andaman and South Andaman are 31 & 25, respectively. The roads will be upgraded with 5 years maintenance and 6th year renewal, respectively. The construction of the roads will be consisting of 8-10% waste plastic mandatorily. The UT administration has started the process of tendering for these roads and soon tenders will be in public domain.
