Roads to get foreign look for games

The Commonwealth Games will take away some of the inducement for travelling abroad. Think broad, tree-lined avenues with comfortable street furniture, hygienic and aesthetically-built food stalls, good lighting... You will find all of it in Delhi next year.

The Commonwealth Games will take away some of the inducement for travelling abroad.

HT Image

Think broad, tree-lined avenues with comfortable street furniture, hygienic and aesthetically-built food stalls, good lighting... You will find all of it in Delhi next year.

The Public Works Department (PWD) will facelift 42 km length of roads around the Games’ venues.

Delhi’s PWD Minister Rajkumar Chauhan inaugurated the beautification work at RK Khanna Tennis Stadium near Hauz Khas and Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range near Tughlaqabad, in South Delhi, on Monday.

“This beautification work will be apart from the routine functions like widening of roads or repair of footpaths,” Chauhan said.

The Delhi government has set aside Rs 2,750 million (Rs 275 crore) for the project.

“The consultants were given a clear brief that landscaping should be on a par with the best cities across the world. The committee on Commonwealth Games has approved each plan,” a senior PWD engineer told HT.

Officials said about 8-10 km of approach roads around each of the eight Games’ venues and the Commonwealth Games Village have been identified for beautification.

These roads, said officials, would be used to transport players and team officials from the Commonwealth Games Village to the Games’ venues.

Beautification of each kilometre of road is estimated to cost about Rs 3 crore.