Tirupati: Andhra Pradesh will benefit hugely from 4 greenfield expressways, says Nitin Gadkari

Tirupati : Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said Andhra Pradesh will benefit more with the Greenfield Expressways taken up by the Centre coupled with more national highways proposed in the State.

Speaking after laying the foundation stone for national highways projects worth over Rs 2,900 crore in Tirupati region including Chittoor, Kadapa and Nellore districts at a glittering function here on Thursday, Gadkari said that the Centre has taken up 7 Green Field Highways including the four which pass through Andhra Pradesh benefitting it immensely by propelling the growth of various sectors particularly industries. He pointed out that industrial growth leads to generation of more jobs which in turns helps in eradicating poverty.

The Surat-Chennai highway is the most important among the Greenfield Highway which will immensely benefit AP as it would provide connectivity from Kanyakumari to Kashmir covering various States in the north and also national capital as well as all the State capitals in the South, the Union Minister said dwelling at length on the benefits the State would derive with the proposed Greenfield expressways and also national highways taken up in AP.

The other three Expressways, the Minister said include Bengaluru-Chennai, Bengaluru-Vijayawada and Raipur (Chhattisgarh)-Visakhapatnam covering Vizianagaram and Manyam, laying the path for the development of these undeveloped districts.

Responding to Tirupati MP Dr Gurumoorthy’s request, he said Rs 500 crore Inter Model Station (IMS) would be set up to decongest the existing APSRTC bus station in Tirupati by joining the various transit models into a single hub.

The IMS is at DPR (detailed project report) stage and tenders will be invited by this month (July) end to commence works at the APSRTC bus station spread over 13 acres and handling about 4,000 buses daily with a total passenger flow of four lakh, he said.

The Union Minister further said, “I am particular about engaging an international architect for a best design for IMS, keeping in view Tirupati being the most holy place for Hindus and also a place having not country level but world level importance.”

Stating that the Centre giving priority to AP was evident with sanctioning of Rs two lakh crore worth projects of national highways, he said Rs 40,000 crore worth works were over while the remaining were under various stages for completion, between 2014 and 2023.

In Tirupati region, Rs 17,000 crore worth roads were sanctioned and are in progress. This include Kadapa-Renigunta,

Tirupati-Madanapalle, Renigunta-Naidupeta, Naidupeta-Turpu Kanupur and Nellore-Krishnapatnam, he explained Tirupati MP Dr Gurumoorthy thanking the Union Minister for his liberal sanction of highway projects to AP, urged him to consider a few more national highways including conversion of State highways into national highways including Tada-Srikalahasthi road, Uthukottai--Tada-Sathyavedu road and expanding the existing Tirupati-Tiruttani four-lane national highway into six lane.

Besides, he also sought a new road from Kapilatheertham in Tirupati city to Anjimedu and also sanctioning of two RoBs. Road and Buildings Minister D Raja, Gudur MLA Varaprasad, District Collector Venkataramana Reddy, BJP Tirupati district president S Dayakar Reddy and others were present.