New rest stops will be constructed near state highway; six bypasses in busy places

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K N Balagopal said the construction of outer ring road will start soon. The outer ring road is designed to be expanded from four lanes to six lanes if required. It has been approved by the National Highway of India as part of the Bharatmala Pariyojana Project. The state will bear half of the cost of land acquisition for this project which is expected to cost a total of Rs 4500 crore. An amount of Rs 1000 crore has been sanctioned for this. The construction will begin soon, he said while presenting the first ever paperless budget in the state.

• A total of Rs 1207.23 crore was sanctioned for roads and bridges
  
• Rs 62.5 crore for development and maintenance of major district roads
  
• Rest stop stations of international standards similar to state highways are being implemented. An amount of Rs 2 crore has been sanctioned
  
• Tarring is done by pulverizing plastic waste as part of the use of modern technologies for road construction. It will benefit.
  
• Output and performance based road maintenance contract will be implemented with a long-term goal in mind. A minimum of severn years of service will be guaranteed.
  
• Project monitoring software will be developed for monitoring and evaluation of projects in the department.
  
• The 20 busiest junctions in the state will be identified and developed. 200 crore from KKIFB will be reserved for the project.
  
• Bypasses will be constructed in areas where traffic congestion is high. Rs 200 crore has been allotted for the construction of six bypasses.
  
• Rs 1500 crore has been sanctioned for the development of Thiruvananthapuram Angamaly MC Road and Kollam – Sengottai Road through KIFB
  
• Rs 92 crore has been sanctioned for the construction of bridges damaged by floods