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The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Thiru T.R. Baalu today addressed the Annual Chief Engineers’ Conference of the Border Roads Organization, here.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, “ I can appreciate that the rank and file of this Organisation work in extremely inhospitable terrain, far away from home in the most difficult conditions of work. A large number of border road projects are in insurgency-prone sectors also. Though BRO is an unarmed force, the Organisation continues to ensure construction and maintenance of roads under such adverse conditions.”
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) was setup in 1960 to meet the defence infrastructure needs of the country, especially in the border States. Over the years, the Organisation has diversified into construction of permanent concrete and steel bridges, accommodation projects, border fencing, airfields and tunneling works. The BRO has been entrusted with upgradation and maintenance of 26 National Highways, totaling a length of 4782 km. Many road infrastructure projects, as part of the special packages announced for the North-East and Jammu and Kashmir, are likely to be executed by BRO.
A very prestigious project being executed by BRO is the 9 km long Rohtang tunnel and a 292 km long al-weather alternate route to Leh at an approximate cost of Rs. 1700 crore. BRO has also been entrusted with construction of 219 km long Delaram-Zaranj road in Afghanistan. An advance team has already moved into Afghanistan and the induction of main BRO work force will start shortly. The work is planned to be completed in about three years at an approximate cost of Rs. 400 crore.
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