NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday announced the roadmap for commencing new construction activities outside municipal limits from April 20. It said resuming construction of unfinished works in urban areas will also be allowed where workers are available on site and there no need to bring them from outside.Sources said kick-starting construction work even at a limited scale and in a phased manner from next week will prepare the ground for resuming activities in full scale when the lockdown is lifted.The home ministry’s revised guideline said fresh construction activities can be resumed including building of roads and renewable energy, irrigation water conservation and industrial projects after April 20 outside municipal areas. All such works will start only when the district or local authorities allow them.Sources said the detailing will be done at the local level and now it’s up to dynamism of the local authorities to enable this quickly and calibrate the opening up depending up to the circumstances.No construction will be allowed in Covid-19 hotspots and containment zones.“What we understand from the guidelines is that construction activities will be allowed in isolated places and in urban areas where there is no chance of the workers mixing or interacting with locals. There are several road and other projects including in the housing sector where labourers are already staying in camps. Resuming works to complete them can start quickly,” said an NHAI official.The road transport ministry has asked its regional officers and contractors to seek work permission from district authorities. Officials said some work can start immediately because in most cases the highway work sites are usually in isolated areas.Construction sector is one of the biggest job generators and it has potential to have multiplier effect on the economy.The home ministry has specified that all work spaces to have temperature screening and provide sanitisers at convenient places. There must be one hour gap at work places between two shifts and the lunch break of staff has to be staggered.They also need to sanitise work places between shifts.For workers coming from outside special transportation facility will be arranged and these vehicles should be allowed to work only with 30-40% passenger capacity.