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Soon, a system to maintain urban road health in state
The urban development department has established the Urban Road Infrastructure Development Agency (URIDA) to give roads in cities an international look and monitor the development, financial support and supervision of roads in municipalities. Along with developing and maintaining roads in cities, URIDA will also develop Urban Road Management System
Lucknow: The Urban Road Infrastructure Development Agency (URIDA) will come up with an ‘Urban Road Management System’, to develop and maintain roads in the state.
Recently, the Uttar Pradesh government approved the Chief Minister Green Road Infrastructure Development Scheme (Urban) worth ₹500 crore, known as the ‘CM Grids Scheme.’ The project has been launched in view of the increasing urbanization in the state and the need to reduce the burden of additional vehicles on roads and facilitate traffic flow, as per a state government spokesperson.
On the direction of the chief minister, the state urban development department launched the project to give roads in cities an international look and monitor the development, financial support and supervision of roads in municipalities, he said.
The urban development department has established the Urban Road Infrastructure Development Agency (URIDA) to implement the scheme on the ground. Along with developing and maintaining roads in cities, URIDA will also develop Urban Road Management System. It would also focus on creating resources, in addition to improving the financial condition of urban local bodies and adopting new technologies in road infrastructure, he said.
The office of URIDA will be established in the building of Directorate of Local Bodies, Lucknow. A general body and an executive committee under it had also been constituted to monitor the activities of CM Grids (Urban), he said.
The main responsibilities of URIDA will be development of ‘Urban Road Management System’ for development and maintenance of all assets related to urban roads. It will work as a think tank, knowledge resource organization and advisory support in the field of urban road development and management. It would also improve the financial health of municipal bodies through value capturing, involving the government, municipal bodies and citizens, he said.
URIDA would also organize training programmes and seminars for appropriate capacity -building for development of road infrastructure in urban bodies. It would develop environment -friendly and cost-effective roads by using latest and modern technology with the help of research institutes. It would prepare standards and guidelines for CM Grids (Urban) and providing grants under the scheme on the basis of increase in revenue collection of municipal bodies, he said.
It had also bene entrusted with the task to prepare and amend ‘Road Selection Criteria’ for selecting roads for construction/reconstruction under CM Grids (Urban). It would conduct an audit of CM-Grids (Urban) bank accounts through a chartered accountant within six months of the end of each financial year. The accuracy certificate of the reconciliation statement of urban local bodies and CM-Grids (Urban) bank accounts would be presented to the agency by the chartered accountants, he said.
A general body has been formed for effective monitoring, assessment and review of CM Grids (Urban) scheme, along with the operational plans related to road development conducted by the urban development department. The general body will be chaired by the chief secretary, with the additional chief secretary or principal secretary of the urban development department serving as the vice-chairman.
An executive committee has been established to oversee planning, design, tendering, monitoring and conservation, among other activities of the CM Grids (Urban) scheme. The executive committee will consist of the additional chief secretary/principal secretary, chairman of the urban development department, and the director of the Local Body Directorate.
