Shimla, June 3: A World Bank-funded road project in Himachal Pradesh awarded to a Chinese firm has missed its deadline, prompting the government to engage new contractors for repairs ahead of the apple harvest season in July, a minister said.
 The bumpy 80-km-long Theog-Kotkhai-Hatkoti-Rohru stretch, the lifeline for Shimla's prominent apple belt which carries out annual business worth Rs.1,000 crore, is a motorist's nightmare.
 The government has now stepped in to improve traffic movement on some stretches of the road connecting Theog, 35 km from state capital Shimla, to Rohru as the Chinese firm has only managed to complete 30 percent of the work in the last three years.
 "The road's construction has been speeded up at five-six critical points. For this work has been reallocated to new contractors. If the weather permits, 30 km out of the total stretch would be made motorable before the apple season," Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta, who is the area legislator, told IANS Sunday. The public works department (PWD) last month awarded the contract to make the road obstruction-free as transportation of half of the state's total apple produce is dependent on it. IANS

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