PUNJAB TO IMPLEMENT PERFORMANCE BASED CONTRACT
Chandigarh March 21:
The Punjab Government has decided to implement performance based contract on 600 Km of its road network in phase-II of the World Bank funded Punjab State Road Sector Project.
Speaking in the concluding function of Seminar on Road Asset Management held by PIARC with the support of Indian Roads Congress and Government of Punjab held at CII on Thursday the PWD Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said that in growing economy, India must opt for scientific methods to manage road assets.
He said that the Road Asset Management must involve management of assets covering use, operation, maintenance and development through continuous supervision and maintenance of existing road network.
The Minister regretted that expensive assets roads were not being managed properly due to lack of scientific knowledge. He said that the public authorities responsible for incredibly expensive and vital assets of the State, must embark upon a plan to build a Road Asset Management System.
The Minister revealed that the replacement cost of the Punjab Road network was pegged at more than Rs 250 billion by conservative estimates and the State must measure the outcome of this asset by proper asset portfolio. Dhindsa said that the main criterion was to maintain a definite level of service keeping the road user in mind.
The options, the Minister said, should be exercised in such a way that maintenance levels and the improvements were carried out with ultimate aim of maintaining the assets for that period. He said that this would be in contrast with the conventional method of contracting where the improvements were made to the asset based on the specific design requirements and the funding was planned/arranged thereafter.
The Minister said that Road Asset Management of a network was a continuous process and even after the expiry of the contract period, the network should return to the client with pre-agreed residual value of the assets. The PWD Minister said that Road maintaining agencies should treat these assets in the same manner as private companies treated their business assets & liabilities and report to Government in a corporate accounting format.
He said that time has come road agencies must transform themselves in how they go about doing their business. They needed to start implementing performance based contracts for the construction, maintenance and upkeep of the roads. Dhindsa said that the participation of more than 250 participants from 22 different countries all over the world including USA, UK, France, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Nigeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, New Zealand, South Africa, Zambia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh Hungary and Israel has provided different facet to the crucial aspect of road asset management. Earlier Secretary PWD (B&R) KA Singh gave a detailed presentation about the seminar.
Source : Punjab Mail Online
Chandigarh March 21:
The Punjab Government has decided to implement performance based contract on 600 Km of its road network in phase-II of the World Bank funded Punjab State Road Sector Project.
Speaking in the concluding function of Seminar on Road Asset Management held by PIARC with the support of Indian Roads Congress and Government of Punjab held at CII on Thursday the PWD Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said that in growing economy, India must opt for scientific methods to manage road assets.
He said that the Road Asset Management must involve management of assets covering use, operation, maintenance and development through continuous supervision and maintenance of existing road network.
The Minister regretted that expensive assets roads were not being managed properly due to lack of scientific knowledge. He said that the public authorities responsible for incredibly expensive and vital assets of the State, must embark upon a plan to build a Road Asset Management System.
The Minister revealed that the replacement cost of the Punjab Road network was pegged at more than Rs 250 billion by conservative estimates and the State must measure the outcome of this asset by proper asset portfolio. Dhindsa said that the main criterion was to maintain a definite level of service keeping the road user in mind.
The options, the Minister said, should be exercised in such a way that maintenance levels and the improvements were carried out with ultimate aim of maintaining the assets for that period. He said that this would be in contrast with the conventional method of contracting where the improvements were made to the asset based on the specific design requirements and the funding was planned/arranged thereafter.
The Minister said that Road Asset Management of a network was a continuous process and even after the expiry of the contract period, the network should return to the client with pre-agreed residual value of the assets. The PWD Minister said that Road maintaining agencies should treat these assets in the same manner as private companies treated their business assets & liabilities and report to Government in a corporate accounting format.
He said that time has come road agencies must transform themselves in how they go about doing their business. They needed to start implementing performance based contracts for the construction, maintenance and upkeep of the roads. Dhindsa said that the participation of more than 250 participants from 22 different countries all over the world including USA, UK, France, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Nigeria, Botswana, Cape Verde, New Zealand, South Africa, Zambia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh Hungary and Israel has provided different facet to the crucial aspect of road asset management. Earlier Secretary PWD (B&R) KA Singh gave a detailed presentation about the seminar.
Source : Punjab Mail Online
