VIJAYAWADA: The government has taken up development of 8,268 km length of roads in the State at a cost of Rs 2,205 crore, said Roads and Buildings Minister M Shankar Narayana. Speaking to mediapersons at the R&B office here on Thursday, he said for the first time in the history of the State, road repairs and development works were taken up at such a huge cost. R&B roads were badly damaged due to heavy rains, floods and cyclones in the last two years. About 45,000 km length of R&B roads in the State need to be repaired as part of road maintenance every five years. The Indian Road Congress (IRC) policy was neglected by the previous regime, he alleged.
A sum of Rs 1,158 crore loan was obtained from NABARD under Infrastructure Development Assistance (NIDA) to complete the 233 road construction works. Of the total, 182 works have been completed and the remaining 51 will be completed by June. Bills to the tune of Rs 568 crore have been paid, he explained. A total of 1,161 works at a cost of Rs 2,205 crore have been taken up this year. All the works will be completed by the end of June. Proposals have been made for additional road works under the NIDA scheme. In addition to the 233 works, 37 more will be executed in the second phase. The State government has submitted proposal for a loan of Rs 570 crore, the minister said.
On development of road infra, Shankar Naryana said, “It has been decided to complete the construction of 14 rail and road bridges with Rs 486 crore loan from NABARD. Construction of another 33 rail and road bridges will be taken up under the CRIF scheme. The construction cost of Rs 1,980 crore will be borne by the Ministry of Roads, while the State’s contribution will be Rs 440 crore.”