JK govt mulls 16 main road projects under CRF

Jammu and Kashmir government has proposed 16 vital road projects before the Union government under the centrally sponsored scheme, Central Road Fund (CRF) for 2013-14. During 2012-13, the State government had proposed 13 vital road projects before the Central government but out of that only five projects were sanctioned. Three road projects were sanctioned for Jammu region, one each in district Jammu, Kishtwar and Doda, while two were sanctioned for Kashmir region, one each for Baramulla and Pulwama, sources said.

This year, the Kashmir government has placed a proposal of 16 vital road projects and has convinced it with the importance of the proposed roads in terms of connectivity and economic importance, the sources said.The state is hopeful of getting sanction for most of the projects this time in sharp contrast against the last year.

The CRF Scheme is meant for the development of state roads including roads of inter-state connectivity and roads of economic importance. Except the rural roads, all state roads including state highways, major district roads and other important roads for improving connectivity can be taken up under the scheme and the cost of each proposed road project shall not exceed Rs 20 crore unless permitted by the central government.