TN floats tenders for ₹12,000-cr road infra contracts

The road highway department in Tamil Nadu has floated 1,000 tenders for road widening, building of bridges, flyovers and other projects, involving an investment of ₹12,000 crore. These tenders, which include the widening and the strengthening of roads and flyovers, were floated after getting administrative sanction from the finance department and technical approval from the chief engineer of the highways department. Normally highways and PWD call for such tenders based on administrative sanction but as it is a capital expenditure, it is incurred over an extended period usually 18-24 months. The state government's e-procurement system, the highways department has a massive 992 active tenders. Out of them, 500 pertain to the improvement in road infrastructure, and work includes ₹2,000 crore to improve the village roads, ₹6,000 crore for widening and strengthening roads and the rest for building bridges and flyovers, including the 10.1 km Avinashi Road flyover which was sanctioned during the budget. Most of the projects are being awarded next month and the chief engineer's office is working round the clock, collecting the data, designing and preparing tender documents.