Centre Allocates Record Fund For Developing National Highways In AP

AMARAVATI: The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has approved a record  Rs 12,123 crore for the improvement of National Highway infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh. State Roads and Buildings Department Principal Secretary M T Krishna Babu said this allocation is a jump of Rs 4,258 crore over last year's sanction of Rs 7,865 crore.
         
The national highways are spread over a length of 7,303.34 kilometres of which 4,007.95 km are maintained by the state Roads and Buildings Department. "We will take up the improvement of the National Highways with the funds allotted this year. These projects will improve connectivity between industrial nodes, economic zones, and places of tourist interest. This will also improve logistic efficiency and create employment opportunities, besides generating more tax revenue for the state government," Krishna Babu said in a release. The Principal Secretary said they would complete all detailed project reports and land acquisition to commence the projects during the year itself.  "These will be in addition to the works that will be taken up by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)," Krishna Babu stated. He said they were planning to complete all DPRs and land acquisitions during this year itself to kick start the projects.

It may be recollected that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been pushing extensively for the development of roads and highways in the State and had met Union minister Nitin Gadkari regarding this. Due to his efforts, the  State government succeeded in getting the National Highway status accorded to the main ‘State Highways’. The AP government has proposed to the Centre to give National Highways status to 31 more state highways in the state. The Central government has notified 11 State Highways in the state as National Highways and the length of these highways is 872.52 km.

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