VIJAYAWADA: To address the growing traffic congestion in the city, the State government has decided to extend the flyover at Benz Circle to Nidamanuru. The decision comes after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that the State government would bear the cost of flyover extension. According to Krishna district collector B Lakshmikantham, the extension of the flyover to Nidamanuru would cost between Rs 600-Rs 700 crore. “We have estimated that the proposal to widen the road between Ramavarappadu and Nidamanuru would cost over Rs 2,000 crore as it would involve removal of encroachments, and providing compensation and rehabilitation to land owners. So, extension of the flyover would be the most cost-effective alternative to road widening,” the collector explained.
The per-kilometre cost for extending the flyover would be around Rs 100 crore, Lakshmikantham added. He made the same point to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu during the two-day Collectors’ Conference as well.The CM, on the occasion, said, “I have decided to have the Benz Circle flyover extended to Nidamanuru. We will bear the cost of the extension. The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) will take it up.” He suggested that the extension could be taken up under Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model.
For the record, the flyover coming up at Benz Circle is part of the four-laning of NH 65 between Vijayawada and Machilipatnam. Initially, the flyover was proposed for only a 619-metre stretch between Jyothi Convention Centre near Skew Bridge to the junction leading to Nirmala High School. Later, the State government requested the Union Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways to extend the flyover to Ramesh Hospital Junction, to which the ministry agreed. With this, the length of the flyover increased by another 800 metres, making it 1.48-km-long one. The estimated cost of the ongoing work of the flyover is close to Rs 250 crore.
“We also tried to persuade the Centre to sanction funds for extending the flyover from Ramesh Hospital Junction to Ramavarappadu and to Nidamanuru as it would help in easing traffic. But, there was no positive response from the Union ministry. Therefore, we have decided to take it up with our own resources,” an official privy to the matter explained.
Addressing traffic woes
The flyover coming up at Benz Circle is part of the four-laning of NH 65 between Vijayawada and Machilipatnam. The per-kilometre cost for extending the flyover would be around R100 crore, Collector Lakshmikantham said during the two-day Collectors’ Conference. The CM, on the occasion, said, “We will bear the cost of the extension. The CRDA (CRDA) will take it up.”