Roads to be upgraded as National Highways in AP

Amaravati: National Highways in Andhra Pradesh could see a rapid development as around 1,000 km of state roads will be upgraded or developed as National Highways this year in 2017 and another 400-450 km stretch of roads are targeted for improvement by National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) through the national highways wing of State Roads & Buildings department.

Highlights:

• Around 1,000 km of new NH Roads to be developed in State
• Centre sanctions Rs 2,000 under Phase 1 and Rs 3,000 will be released in September this year
• 400 km stretch of road to be developed under Central Road Fund
• Three RoBs were sanctioned and eight are under consideration

The proposals on works worth Rs 7,300 crore under the annual plan of 2017-18 were submitted by the Roads & Buildings (R & B) department will be taken up this year for which the NHAI has already given its green signal. This may be a major relief to the State as the R&B department is in a very tight position in taking up road improvement works this year due to scarcity of funds.

After holding a meeting recently with State government officials, the Union government sanctioned around Rs 2,000 crore to the State under Phase-1 and another Rs 3,000 crore is expected by September this year. The NH wing of R&B department has submitted proposals to NHAI this year.

“If the proposed 1,000 km are developed as national highways, the total length of national highways in the State will reach to 7,200 km from current 6,200 km” a senior official of the Roads and Buildings department told The Hans India here on Sunday. The Union Government has given its approval for a budget of Rs 3,500 crore in the last fiscal year but sanctioned only Rs 2,500 crore, said the official.

Apart from this, the R&B department is also considering taking up road renovation or repair works on a stretch of about 400-450 km, of which, some roads are new while the others have to be upgraded. “We are considering widening and strengthening some roads and laying down four-lane new roads” said the official.

Apart from this, the Roads and Buildings department is speeding up the works on some of the roads that have already been sanctioned. The Department has entered into an agreement on works of Vizianagaram bypass road. Of the total cost of Rs 429 crore for the 17 km of four lane bypass road, Rs 218 crore is for the contract value and the remaining for land acquisition.

The NHAI has also sanctioned three Rail-over-Bridges (RoB) for Kadapa and Anantapur districts and proposals for another eight RoBs are still pending. “Around Rs 800 crore was sanctioned for construction of eight RoBs in 2016-17 and three RoBs have been sanctioned this year” said the official.

In addition to this, the Centre will reimburse Rs 200 crore this year under the Central Road Fund (CRF) as part of developing 400 km stretch of road. The State government has to develop roads with its own funds and the Centre will reimburse the amount later. Though, the Centre has a plan to reimburse Rs 350 crore this year, the State government allocated only Rs 200 crore in the budget plan, said the official.