Punjab’s mega road repair drive slows down amid US-Iran war

Punjab’s ambitious road repair programme — one of the AAP government’s flagship pre-election infrastructure pushes — is facing disruption due to a shortage and a sharp rise in bitumen prices, with officials linking the crunch to supply shocks following the US-Iran conflict.

Contractors have slowed or stopped work on several projects, citing the unavailability of bitumen and demanding an increase in tender rates to offset the higher cost of the material, an official said.

A senior Punjab government official told The Indian Express that both the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Punjab Mandi Board have been affected.

“PWD is recarpeting urban roads while the Mandi Board is repairing rural link roads. Earlier, nearly 100 km of roads under each department were being repaired every day. Now, the pace has fallen to around 25 km a day. We had planned to complete most of the work before the onset of the monsoon, but the rains have already begun. It is not just the shortage of bitumen but also the monsoon that has slowed down the work,” the official said.

What now

The official said the Punjab Government would now have to revise the tender rates upward to compensate contractors for the increase in bitumen prices.

“This will cost the state around Rs 250 crore extra. The Finance Department has already been informed. We will have to enhance the tender price because even the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which is executing several highway projects in Punjab, has revised rates owing to the increase in bitumen prices,” the official said.

The delay has also created complications under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), which funds rural road projects. “The government has already submitted utilisation certificates for several projects that are yet to be completed. We will expedite the work, but because of the rains, it will continue at a slower pace. We are now aiming to complete the programme by October,” the official said.

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“Major roads needed immediate repairs. Most of them are supposed to be recarpeted every three years, but had already outlived their lifespan,” an official said.

The programme

The government had planned one of the biggest road repair programmes in Punjab’s history, taking up the repair and upgradation of 20,405 km of roads at a cost of Rs 3,436.49 crore, with the objective of completing the work by the end of 2026, well before the 2027 Assembly elections.

The programme covered both rural link roads maintained by the Punjab Mandi Board and roads maintained by the Public Works Department. Punjab has a network of 64,878 km of rural and link roads, of which 33,492 km are maintained by the Punjab Mandi Board and 31,386 km by the PWD.

Officials had identified 20,405 km of roads for repair because they had remained unattended for years. As many as 13,538 km of roads were pending under repair programmes of 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25, while another 6,867 km had become due for repair under the 2025-26 programme. Around one-third of Punjab’s rural roads are required to be renewed every five years.

Funding

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The project was largely financed through borrowings, reflecting the state’s strained finances. Of the total expenditure, Rs 1,800 crore was borrowed from NABARD under the NABARD Infrastructure Development Assistance (NIDA) loan. Another Rs 350 crore came from the Centre’s Special Assistance scheme, Rs 150 crore from NABARD’s Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), while Punjab’s market committees contributed Rs 572.68 crore from their own funds.

A major component involved the repair of 5,672 km of rural link roads at a cost of Rs 1,058 crore, funded by NABARD. Tenders had been floated in phases: 2,502 km worth Rs 545 crore, another 1,700 km worth Rs 265 crore, and the remaining 1,470 km worth Rs 248 crore.

Besides this, Rs 100 crore from NABARD RIDF was earmarked for the repair of 21 roads and bridges. The government also planned to spend Rs 1,000 crore from the state’s consolidated fund to repair 1,349 km of PWD roads.

Another important component was the upgradation of 77 mining-affected link roads covering 379.32 km at a cost of Rs 261.29 crore. Of this, Rs 245.34 crore was to be provided by the Centre’s Special Assistance fund, while the remaining amount was to be contributed by the Punjab Mandi Board and market committees.

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Residents in mining belts had repeatedly complained that roads used by heavy sand-laden vehicles had deteriorated rapidly.

The programme also included the repair of 736 km of roads under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana with Central assistance of Rs 671 crore.