Centre likely to sanction funds for 812 Km roads
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, May 12 2025: The Government of India is likely to sanction necessary funds for construction of 812.50 Kms of roads in Manipur under PMGSY-III.

RED/MSRRDA Chief Engineer Khuraijam Temba said that PMGSY was launched in 2000 to construct roads in rural areas, including interior areas.

A total of 2066 works were sanctioned under PMGSY-I and it focused on basic connectivity.

PMGSY-II focused on improvement of the works undertaken under PMGSY-I.Under PMGSY-III, 812.50 Kms of roads would be constructed.

Out of these roads, 55 works of total length 490.74 Kms have been sanctioned.

The tender process is already underway, Temba said.

He said that 41 other works of length 280.97 Kms have also been sanctioned.

The Chief Engineer said that the tender process was initiated as per the Standard Bidding Document (SBD) created by the Government of India for application all over India with respect to PMGSY works.

The department has no right or authority to modify this document.

RED/ MSRRDA is implementing the document provided by the Government of India and it gets 2.8 per cent in the form of agency charge, he said.

Making a sharp deviation from the conventional methods in which local contractors are quite adept, there are instructions to use new and modem technologies in all works including PMGSY works, the Chief Engineer said.

Now the roads would be constructed using cement treated base (CTB) and cement treated sub-base (CTSB).

Out of the 55 works of which tender process has been initiated, there are only around four works which can be executed using the conventional method, he said.

The Government of India also sent a written instruction in January 2025 stating that execution of PMGSY works should not deviate even by the slightest from the SBD, he said.

If no bidder responds to the tender process, the department may get a chance to write to the Centre to modify the SBD and the Centre may agree to modifying the SBD after due discussion, Temba said.

Local contractors have been executing the PMGSY works since the scheme was launched.

At first, the State received letters of appreciation but today, Manipur has been declared as the worst performing State, Temba said.

Now, no PMGSY bills can be released without verification by the Deputy Commissioners concerned, he said.

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