Kerala government approves new PWD policy

The Kerala government has approved a new policy for the public works department (PWD), 13 years after its first policy was introduced. As per the policy, the use of environment-friendly, modern technologies for road construction will be encouraged. This includes the use of shredded plastic, natural rubber, modified bitumen, etc. for road construction. Further, the PWD has decided to end the outsourcing of DPR preparation for road projects. As per the new policy, project preparation units of the department will be strengthened to conduct investigations and prepare DPRs for road projects. In order to strengthen the design wing, separate units will be set up for designing bridges and highways as well as for project preparation, geotechnical engineering and environmental engineering. In addition, open data and geographic information system mapping of roads and bridges will be made available to enhance transparency. The government is also planning to introduce mobile applications to regularly update data on roads and bridges in the state.