Kakinada-Ontimamidi beach road may become a reality soon

Kakinada: The proposed Kakinada – Ontimamdi beach road connecting to the National Highway 16 at Annavaram, is likely to be a reality soon. Both the R&B and State port departments are keen on executing the 45-kilometre project under different schemes.

According to sources, the R&B department proposed the development of the road as a four-lane road with an elevated corridor of 3 kilometres from Adikumbheswara temple in Kakinada port area to Vakalapudi fishing harbor, at a cost of Rs 325 crore.

This connectivity if it comes into existence would provide direct accessibility to Kakinada port from NH 16 at Annavaram and bring down the distance by more than 20 kilometers for transport operators to reach Kakinada port and vice-versa. Currently, the entire road transport operations are being done on the Kathipudi-Kakinada route.

On the other hand, the AP State Ports department has also proposed the project at a cost of Rs 650 crore with some variations. Under this proposal, a distance of about 5 kilometres between Nemam and Uppada enroute of the beach road will be covered as elevated corridor and the rest of the distance would be covered as a four-lane road.

Under both the proposals, strengthening of bunds along the sea coast would be taken up to avert sea erosion as more than 150 acres has been eroded by the sea in the last six decades. East Godavari R&B Superintending Engineer CSN Murthy said that the proposal was sent to government under Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC).

Dantu Surya Rao, President of ‘Cocanada Chamber of Commerce’ ‘which caters to the needs of the shipping industry opined that instead of connecting the proposed road to NH 16 at Annavaram, the same can be linked to Donavaipeta beside Tandava River to avoid traffic congestion.