Rafique Aziz
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The unpleasant experience to tourists visiting the hill station Mhaismal will now be a thing of the past as the Public Works Department (West Division, Aurangabad) has started the construction of the 11.5 kms long road (MDR 21) leading from Khuldabad.
The construction work of the major district road (MDR 21 extending Khuldabad to Mhaismal) will be done in three phases. The first phase is of 6 kms (0.00 to 6.000 kms); the second phase is of 4.5 kms (6.000 to 10.500 kms) and the third phase is of 1 kms (10.500 kms to 11.500 kms). The first phase of work includes 4 kms long black topping (BT) road and 2 kms long white topping (WT or cement concrete) road.
The deputy engineer (PWD, West Sub-division at Khuldabad) Dilip Kolte said, “The total length of the road is 11.5 kms. Out of which, first phase work has already been started. The estimated cost of the tender quoted by us was Rs 19 crore, but the contractor quoted Rs 25.21 crore. Meanwhile, the development of 4 the kms long BT road (from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar statue in Khuldabad to the starting point of Mhaismal ghat) has been completed. The remaining stretch passing through ghat in a zigzag way will be WT road and is 1600 metres (1.6 kms) long. The construction of WT road work, on one side, was started a fortnight ago (before Diwali). A length of 450 metres WT road has been constructed so far. The work is tentatively halted due to Diwali vacation (as labourers had been to their native villages). Hence the construction of the second side of the WT road will commence soon, this week.”
Kolte added, “We have also floated a tender of second phase road work from 6.00 kms to 10.500 kms (From starting to end point of the Ghat or from a small water body in Ghat till Temple of Goddess Girija Devi). The estimated cost of the tender is
Rs 9.50 crore. The process to shortlist the contractor is underway and it is hoped that the work gets started this month. The last mile (one-km strip) from 10.500 kms to 11.500 kms has been kept as a live tender and will be done in the last leg.”
Meanwhile, the PWD executive engineer (West Division, Aurangabad) S G Kendre was unavailable to highlight the technicalities of MDR - 21 as he had gone to attend an important meeting in the afternoon.