Centre sanctions Rupees 1,793 crore

Amaravati:The Centre sanctioned Rs 1,793 crore for construction of 8 National Highway roads in phase-1, officials informed Chief Minister here on Wednesday.Eight roads covering 1249 kms were declared as National Highways in the state this year covering Anantapur, Guntur, West Godavari, East Godavari, Vizag and Vizianagaram districts. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu held a review meeting with R and B officials at the Secretariat at Velagapudi on Wednesday.

Highlights:

• The State government decides to widen all the existing State Highways as two-lane roads within next five years
• CM asks officials to study the road maintenance system in MP to adopt the best practice for planning and maintenance of roads

The National Highways are NH 167A and 167B, 516E, 365BB, 544DD, 544E, 167, 216A. The NHAI informed the AP government that the Amaravati outer ring road can be treated as a by-pass to the National Highways 16 and 65. The department officials informed the Chief Minister that peg marking for the Amaravati-Anantapur National Expressway has been completed in Anantapur and Kurnool districts and the works are in progress in Prakasam, Guntur and Kadapa districts.

The Department of Roads and Buildings has identified IIT Tirupati as Knowledge Partner. And an MoU is being worked out for a partnership between R&B and NAC. Reviewing the establishment of Andhra Pradesh road maintenance system, the Chief Minister asked the officials to study the Madhya Pradesh system which has adopted the best practices for planning and maintenance of roads. The Andhra Pradesh Road Maintenance has completed data collections for 13 districts (41,300 km) and rolling out plans for State Highways in 10 districts.

Training will be conducted in road maintenance system to field engineers on May 26 and in June in districts of Srikakulam, East Godavari and Chittoor respectively. National Academy of Construction will hold one day orientation programme on May 19, 23 and 30 to create awareness on the good construction practices and the new technologies in highway construction.

The department has identified 1013 black spots on State Highways in the and the Chief Minister said that interventions such as improvement of junctions, substandard curves and erection of caution boards should be completed on all the roads before the monsoon season begins. While reviewing the status of works under Central Road Fund, the Chief Minister said that 132 works should be completed by December 2018. The total cost of the works is Rs.1690 crore.

Of these works, 61 are in progress and 71 are at tenders’ stage. The officials told the Chief Minister that for construction of two-lane roads at a stretch of 2,062 km connecting mandal to mandal headquarters, the department plans to spend Rs 2100 crore.

The R and B department has come up with an action plan for the development of State Highways. The officials said that a robust road network particularly State Highways are to be improved to meet the present and future traffic besides providing smooth ride, increasing connectivity to rural, urban and to all minor and major settlements.

The government has decided to widen all the existing State Highways as two lane roads within next five years.It is also being planned to widen about 120 km length of State Highways within town limits/urban areas from two lanes to four lanes to relieve congestion.With regard to construction of the Vaikunta Mala Ring Road, NHAI has suggested to the government to take up the responsibility of land pooling.