VIJAYAWADA: The State government hiked budgetary allocations to the Roads and Buildings (R&B) Department by 6.2% and earmarked Rs 9,118 crore. In the last fiscal, Rs 8,581 crore was allocated to the department.While Rs 616 crore each was allocated for New Development Bank’s (NDB) Andhra Pradesh Roads and Bridges Re-construction Project, and AP Mandal Connectivity and Rural Connectivity Improvement Project, Rs 500 crore was earmarked for upgrading State highways.
Additionally, Rs 400 crore each was allocated for subvention from Central Road Fund and Central Road Investment Fund.Stating that the government is maintaining about 32,725 km of major district roads and other district roads, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath said the government has proposed to strengthen and upgrade roads covering 4,000 km. He added works for maintenance and urgent repairs worth about Rs 400 crore have been taken up.
Pointing out that improvement works for State Highways, covering a stretch of 8,268 km, have been completed with an amount of Rs 2,205 crore, the minister said under the Left Wing Extremism Affected Area, 46 works, covering 437.59 km, have been sanctioned with with Centre’s assistance at an outlay of Rs 391 crore.Till December 2022, works for roads, covering a length of 383.66 km, were completed.