Kerala’s Public Works Department has set a target of constructing 350 bridges and upgrading 15,000 km of roads to bituminous macadam and bituminous concrete standards during the current government’s tenure, in one of the state’s largest planned road infrastructure expansions.
PWD minister PK Basheer said administrative sanction had been granted over the past six months for projects worth Rs 2,000 crore. He said the availability of funds would not prevent the implementation of the sanctioned works, according to a report by the Times of India.
The department is also preparing a package covering major junctions, bypasses and flyovers across Kerala. Project priorities will be based on the recommendations of a committee headed by IAS officer A Shajahan. The committee’s study report is awaited.
The proposed programme will give special attention to congested junctions, new bypasses and flyovers, as well as road improvements in selected cities under the city road improvement project. The PWD has convened a meeting of legislators to gather suggestions and proposals before projects are prioritised.
The plan includes a separate set of works linked to the Sabarimala pilgrimage. Administrative sanction has been granted for 90 road projects under the pilgrimage-related infrastructure package, with a combined value of Rs 551.5 crore. The works are intended to support road connectivity associated with the movement of pilgrims, although the supplied report does not specify the individual locations or completion timelines.
In addition, 126 road projects included in the 2026-27 state budget have received administrative approval amounting to Rs 260.28 crore. Tender procedures for these works are progressing, Basheer said. The government is also examining estimates for 11 more Sabarimala-linked road works valued at Rs 29.95 crore.
Estimates worth Rs 338.46 crore for another 136 budget-linked road projects are awaiting government approval. These pending approvals represent a separate stage in the pipeline from the projects that have already received administrative sanction and those now moving towards tendering.
The department said it would encourage contractors with experience and expertise to participate in major projects to support timely completion. Basheer also said the number of contractors participating in tenders had increased significantly since the United Democratic Front government assumed office, which he described as an indication of growing interest in Kerala’s infrastructure projects.
The scale of the targets places implementation, tendering and project prioritisation at the centre of the programme. The next reported milestones are the committee’s recommendations on junctions, bypasses and flyovers, the government’s decisions on pending estimates and the progress of tenders for the sanctioned road works.
