VIJAYAWADA: Five separate land acquisition units and one forest cell have been set up to speed up the construction of Anantapur-Amaravati Greenfield Expressway, which will provide connectivity between Amaravati, the state capital, and the backward Rayalaseema districts.
Briefing Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the progress made on the project during a teleconference on Sunday, special chief secretary (Transport, R&B) B Sambob said the forest cell was set up for processing all the required clearances with regard to de-reservation of forest land, as suggested by the CM.
The greenfield access controlled expressway will be of 600 km length and will have both six and four lanes. The estimated cost of the project including land acquisition, is pegged at ` 29,000 crore. The teleconference was a prelude to the high-level review meeting on infrastructure development in Amaravati, scheduled to be held on December 27. Naidu opined that the overall economic development of the capital city is expected to generate more than three lakh direct and indirect jobs in next 8-10 years, which would be a boon to people of the state. He directed the officials to ensure that the proposed road infrastructure connectivity, including Anantapur-Amaravati Expressway and internal roads of the capital city, was designed keeping in mind present and future needs.
When he stressed the need for establishment of top national and international hotels, hospitals and universities at the earliest which will boost economic development, principal secretary (investment and infrastructure) Ajay Jain informed the CM that prominent health and educational institutions like VIT, SRM University, Amrita University and, Indo-UK Institute of Health (IUIH) in collaboration with the King’s College, London, have already been provided land and they were in process of grounding their respective projects.