Guwahati, Oct. 7: The Assam public works department (roads) is developing a road asset management system (RAMS) for better management and effective maintenance and planning of roads.

The system is a modern strategic tool to store up-to-date information on road and bridges, their conditions, and traffic.

In the first phase, it has been developed to cover 9,500km of state highways, major district roads and urban roads.

In the next phase, it will cover the rural road network.

A senior public works department official said the state has a higher dependency on roads than any other mode of transport and it is important to adopt a system that optimises investments on development of road infrastructure, balances investments between new construction and maintenance of roads and prioritises roads for maintenance on the basis of their condition and importance so that the best utilisation of limited public funds is ensured.

PWD minister Parimal Suklabaidya had launched a training course on RAMS at the Assam Road Research and Training Institute here on October 4.

He welcomed initiatives to modernise the department and the road sector and emphasised on closer interaction with citizens and stakeholders.

RAMS will soon be integrated with the e-portal of the department, following which the system will be used more widely by the department and citizens from next month, the official said.

The system is being developed using GIS (Geographic Information System) for graphical representation of each road based on their actual geographical position.

It is deployed in the department's data centre in the office of the chief engineer, PWD (Roads), Guwahati, and the departmental staff has started using the system by accessing it through the web.

At present, the system contains data for the state highways and major district roads.

The official said the system will also help the department draw up infrastructure development plans like capacity enhancement or widening of roads, reconstruction and strengthening of pavements and annual maintenance plans, both periodic and routine.

With the help of the system, the department can also decide on shifting of electrical poles and water supply lines and cutting of trees required for widening of roads.

It will help the department to prepare detailed project reports faster and undertake pre-construction activities well in advance, before works are allotted to contractors.

The system, integrated with accident data, will also be able to identify black spots, which once mitigated would improve road safety.

"The system will help the department in informed decision-making in respect of proper investment of funds and multi-year planning," the official said.