CM announces Rs 476 cr for road repairs

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday announced that Rs 186 crore is being released immediately for undertaking repairs of the roads that got damaged in the recent floods while another Rs 290 crore will being sanctioned for filling potholes on highways.

During a review on the prevailing condition of roads in the state, particularly in the flood-hit areas, the Chief Minister directed the officials to begin the repair works immediately after completing the process of calling for tenders. He also agreed to sanction another Rs 42 crore for acquiring the necessary land for building road over bridges (ROBs) and told the officials to speed up the works for completing the ongoing highways construction that are taken up with Rs 65,000 crore by coordinating with the Central government wing.

Minister BC Janardhan and the officials of the roads and buildings along with others were present. The Chief Minister said that the road network, which was already in poor condition due to the inefficiency of the previous government, got heavily damaged in these incessant rains.

He directed the officials to assess the damage of the roads technically with the help of drones and LiDARs and take up the repair works. He also told them that the ROBs taken up under the Central schemes like Sethu Bandhan and Gati Sakthi should be completed at a fast pace.

Chandrababu felt that some contractors who have undertaken the national highways’ works are not working properly and serious action will be taken against them if they do not mend their ways immediately.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to take up the works of the Amaravati Outer Ring Road, Visakhapatnam to Mulapet, Vijayawada East Bypass, widening of the Vijayawada-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Bengaluru and the plans for the greenfield corridor from Hyderabad to Amaravati through the National Highway Authority of India.