Financial crunch stalls erection of new speed limit boards along NH

NEITHER HAS govt made funds available nor have advertisers or institutions come up with PLAN

| FEBRUARY 22, 2019, 03:12 AM IST
Financial crunch stalls erection of new speed limit boards along NH

the goan I network

MARGAO  

Will the government, which swears to curb road accidents through strict enforcement of the Motor Vehicles Act, arrange funds to replace all outdated and defunct speed limit sign boards across the State along the National Highways?  

 While the government and the authorities, including the police headed by DGP Muktesh Chander means business in the implementation of the MV rules, a notification from the National Highways notifying new speed limits along the National Highway has remained confined to the papers for want of funds.  

 Neither the State government has made available the required funds to install the new traffic sign boards with the notified speed limits, nor have the advertisers or institutions come up with proposal to install the speed limit board under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).  

 In fact, it’s now over six months since the new speed limits on various stretches of the National Highway, right from Patradevi to Polem and the Verna-Airport road were notified last year, but the old and defunct sign boards continue to stand tall along the highways.  

 Inquiries by The Goan have revealed that the replacement of the old sign boards with the new speed limit boards has hit a road block, primarily because of the fund constraint. Sources have revealed that though the PWD, National Highways has sent a proposal to the higher ups for implementation of the notification, the issue has been left unattended, apparently for want of funds.  

 PWD officials said that it may require funds amounting to around Rs 2 crore to install the new speed limit sign boards, considering the fact that the rules mandate installation of a speed limit sign board every 500-600 metres along the highway. A PWD official further informed that the notification has come out with three categories of speed limits, for the light motor vehicles, two-wheeler and others, at certain stretches of the highway, indicating that three different set of boards will have to accommodate these speed limits.  

 To tide over the financial crunch, The Goan understands that the PWD had invited prospective advertisers to install the speed limit sign boards in lieu of using a portion of the sign board to display their advertisement. While a couple of advertisers did evoke interest in the offer, they have ultimately backed out after their demand for adequate space for advertising did not conform to the National Highways specifications.   

 With the State government not showing much interest in the installation of the speed limits along the national highway, a senior PWD official said that they will now include the proposal of installing the sign boards in the tender for resurfacing of the National Highway road. “We are left with no option than to include the proposal in the tender for the resurfacing of the National Highway road. We will move the proposal immediately to the Union Ministry for Surface Transport for approval,” the official said, while preferring to keep his fingers crossed over the fate of the proposal.  


THE REQUIREMENT

Funds amounting to around Rs 2 crore required to install the new speed limit sign boards

The rules mandate installation of a speed limit sign board every 500-600 metres along the highway

The notification has come out with three categories of speed limits, for the light motor vehicles, two-wheeler and others, at certain stretches of the highway, indicating that three different set of boards will have to accommodate these speed limits

 FINANCIAL CRUNCH

The PWD had invited prospective advertisers to install the speed limit sign boards in lieu of using a portion of the sign board to display their advertisement

Couple of advertisers did evoke interest in the offer, but they ultimately backed out after their demand for adequate space for advertising did not conform to the NHs specifications

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