BHOPAL, 11 June — The launch of a 30 km road in Madhya Pradesh with the help of the private sector may soon see the state’s badly maligned road network looking up, a senior official has said.
The road, the first in the state to be built under a build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme, links Indore city to the industrial area in Pithampur, says S.R. Mohanty, managing director of the Madhya Pradesh Bridge Corporation.
“The most interesting feature of this toll road is that not only has it cut down the travel time between Indore and Pithampur, but there has been an almost 50 percent increase in traffic,” Mohanty said.
MPBC has been given the responsibility of overseeing all BOT projects in the road sector.
Prakash Toolways Ltd., an Indore-based company, was offered the 180 million rupees project through competitive bidding. It was given the right to collect toll for 3,153 days and a year’s time to complete the construction. It finished the task within 169 days.
Madhya Pradesh is reputed for some of the worst roads in the country.
