A.P. CM tells officials to expedite NH projects worth ₹1.40 lakh crore

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has asked the officials to ensure that the National Highway (NH) projects currently underway in the State, valued in excess of ₹1.40 lakh crore, are completed by the end of 2029. 

In a review meeting at his camp office, Mr. Naidu emphasised that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways should take steps to expedite those projects, and suggested that the NHs should be linked with major ports, including Mulapeta (Srikakulam), Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Machilipatnam, Ramayapatnam and Krishnapatnam. 

This would help establish the much-needed connectivity to the hinterland required to facilitate seamless cargo movement from and to the neighbouring States. 

He instructed the officials to prepare plans to convert the existing two-lane highways into four or six-lane roads and ordered that projects worth ₹42,194 crore currently in progress should be finished by the end of 2027. 

Mr. Naidu said the ​Bangalore-Kadapa-Vijayawada Economic Corridor should be completed by 2027 to enhance connectivity to Amaravati and wanted a DPR to be prepared for laying an expressway connecting ​Kharagpur with Amaravati. 

Besides, roads should be developed to connect Nagpur with Machilipatnam via Vijayawada, Raipur with Amaravati, and Jagdalpur or Raipur with Mulapeta port. 

Internal road network

Mr. Naidu ordered the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department to expand the State’s internal road network, responding to which the officials said an action plan had been prepared for laying 6,054-km roads at a cost of ₹2,500 crore.

R&B Minister B.C. Janardhan Reddy, Special Chief Secretary M.T. Krishna Babu and senior officials of the NHAI were present.