A stretch of 253.55-km-long roads to be developed in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: With its focus set on plugging infrastructure gap, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is taking a big leap towards enhancing road-infra in Visakhapatnam.

Adhering to strict timelines, the civic body intends to convert all the roads into either CC or BT roads by March 2026.

By dividing the infra project into three categories, ‘poor,’ ‘medium’ and ‘good,’ the civic body is embarking on road development works in a phased manner, focusing initially on uplifting poor roads.

“As part of the first phase of the road development project, a 253.55-km-long stretch of roads that fall under the eight zones GVMC precincts have been identified. Every year, the GVMC is spending up to Rs 90 crore on road maintenance. To ease the mounting costs and save time, we plan to bring in a single agency contract system,” says P Sampath Kumar, GVMC Commissioner.

In connection with the new cost-effective endeavour, the corporation plans to award road works to a single contractor, investing Rs 500 crore on annuity payout mode, setting a timeframe of five years.

Of the 3,087-km-long extent of roads that fall under the GVMC limits in Visakhapatnam, the corporation identified 253.55-km-long roads that are above 40-ft for the first phase of the initiative. While the poor roads will be revamped initially, the focus will be on ‘medium’ roads the following year.

Currently, the design survey is in progress. Following which, a detailed project report (DPR) would be readied. Once the DPR gets through, tenders will be called for the project through which the road-infra would witness a major transformation in Visakhapatnam.

After the completion of the project, a single layer of touch-up would be required every five years in order to maintain the condition of roads.

Apparently, by rolling out the single agency contract system, the GVMC not only completes road works in a short span of time but also saves crores of rupees.