Border Roads Organisation’s procurement budget expanded to Rs 100 crore, green light to outsourcing


The recommendations were related to speeding up road construction, leading to socio-economic development in the border areas, Ministry of Defence said.

File photo of an army jawan photographed at LoC in Poonch (Photo Credits: PTI)

HIGHLIGHTS

  • The announcement was made by the Defence Ministry on Monday
  • A CoE under Chairmanship of Lt General DB Shekatkar made the recommendations
  • BRO will now adopt EPC mode for execution of all projects worth over Rs 100 crore

The Union government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations of the Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lt General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border infrastructure.

For starters, the procurement budget of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has now been increased from Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 100 crore, for both domestic and foreign procurements.

Centre has also implemented the recommendation of CoE to outsource road construction work beyond the optimal capacity of BRO. It is now mandatory for the body to adopt Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) mode for execution of all projects that cost more than Rs 100 crore.

The other recommendations relate to the introduction of modern construction plants, equipment and machinery. BRO had recently inducted hot-mix plant (20/30 TPH) for faster completion of roads, remote-operated hydraulic rock drills (DC-400 R) for hard rock cutting, and a range of F-90 series of self-propelled snow-cutters/blowers for swift cleaning of snow-covered areas.

Blasting technology for precision blasting, use of geotextiles for soil stabilisation, cementitious base for pavements, plastic-coated aggregates for surfacing, is also being used to enhance the pace of construction. With the empowerment of field officers through increased delegation of financial and administrative powers, there has been significant improvement in the pace of ongoing projects.

The land acquisition and statutory clearances such as forest and environmental clearance have also been made part of the approval of the Detailed Project Report (DPR). Furthermore, with the adoption of EPC mode of execution, it is mandatory to award projects only when 90 per cent of the statutory clearances have been obtained and to implement the recommendation of CoE over obtaining prior clearances before the commencement of the project.

“Government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations of the Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lt General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border Infrastructure. These were related to speeding up road construction, leading to socio-economic development in the border areas,” a statement from Ministry of Defence said.

Over the past weeks, there have been reports of multiple faceoffs between Indian and Chinese troops allegedly over a difference of opinion over construction activities in the sensitive area.

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