VIJAYAWADA: Chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has suggested that special purpose vehicles be formed in the state so loans could be raised for implementing the railway projects.
South Central Railway general manager Ravindra Gupta called on the CM at his office here on Saturday.
On the occasion, the CM suggested that a third parallel railway line from Chennai to Visakhapatnam be laid since two new industrial corridors, three nodes and two manufacturing zones are coming up in the state.
He requested for rail connectivity from Rayalaseema districts to Amaravati, just as the way a road has been proposed between Amaravati and Rayalaseema, which will finally join the Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway, and an additional railway line between Tirupati and Gudur.
The chief minister wanted the SCR to hand over the Havelock Bridge across Godavari river in Rajahmundry, which has been abandoned for some time now, so the location can be turned into a tourist destination.
“The railways could either hand it over to the state government or sell it to a private company to develop it into a tourism spot,” he told the SCR General manager, while recalling the protests staged by the people of Rajahmundry against the proposal made by the railways to remove the bridge.