Fund for roads maintenance mooted

Visakhapatnam: The Central and State governments are spending huge sums on laying of roads but there is an urgent need to preserve these roads with sufficient maintenance fund, observed former Director General of Road Transport and Highways and presently Asian Institute of Transport Development (AITD) Director DP Gupta.

The government was spending huge amounts on the road infrastructure and developing national highways, but the investment would be wasted, if the government is not allocating funds for the maintenance of the roads, he alerted. Gupta delivered Dr KL Rao endowment lecture on ‘Development of Road Infrastructure: Challenges and strategies’ organised by GITAM Civil Engineering Department here on Wednesday.

He said that transport infrastructure is a powerful engine of socio-economic growth, but still several habitations have deprived of road connectivity.
The Central government is planning to invest Rs 5.35 trillion through Bharatmala Pariyojana Highway Improvement Project, he said.

If the government allows private sector financing in road infrastructure, the public money can be diverted to health care and education sectors, he suggested and added that road safety is a serious challenge in our country particularly multi-disciplinary activity.

Vice-Chancellor of GITAM University Prof MS Prasada Rao said that road infrastructure in the country is far behind when compared to China and there is an urgent need to address the social concerns through road infrastructure.

Paying tributes to Dr KL Rao, the Vice-Chancellor mentioned that KL Rao had balanced the academic and political fields with transparency. He said that Dr KL Rao visualised the integration of rivers for nation development.

GITAM Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof K Sivaramakrishna, Institute of Technology Principal Prof K Lakshmiprasad and Civil Engineering Department head Prof KV Ramesh were present.