NELLORE: Railway infrastructure projects (16 new lines and 15 doublings), covering a total length of 5,581 km, costing Rs 70,594 crore, falling fully/partly in Andhra Pradesh, are at different stages of planning/approval/execution, and out of which, 636 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 19,414 crore has been incurred up to March 2022, said Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways,
Communication, Electronics and Information Technology, while replying to a question raised by Rajya Sabha member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy on Friday. The Railway Minister stated that 16 new rail line projects of a total length of 1,917 km at a cost of Rs 25,809 crore, out of which 130 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 4,201 crore has been incurred up to March 2020.
Out of 15 rail line doubling projects of a total length of 3,664 km at a cost of Rs 44,785 crore, 506 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of Rs 15,213 crore has been incurred up to March 22, he informed. As far as electrification is concerned, presently, no railway electrification project falling fully/partly in the State of AP is pending for completion.
Railway infrastructure projects in AP are covered under the Southern Railway, South Central Railway, South Western Railway and East Coast Railway Zones of Indian Railway. It has taken up 7 projects of a total cost of Rs 17,073 crore on cost sharing basis with the Government of AP. An expenditure of Rs 7,732 crore has been incurred on the projects. An amount of Rs 3,723 crore is outstanding from the Government of AP towards its share in these projects, he revealed.
The average annual budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling fully/partly in the State of AP, during 2014-19 has increased to Rs 2,830 crore per year from Rs 886 crore per year during 2009-14. Thus, there is an increase of 219% over the average annual budget allocation of 2009-14.
The budget outlay for these projects has been increased to Rs 3,885 crore in 2019-20 (338% more than the average annual budget outlay during 2009-14), Rs 4,910 crore in 2020-21 (454% more than the average annual budget outlay during 2009-14) and Rs 6,223 crore in 2021-22 (602% more than average annual outlay during 2009-14). For 2022-23, the highest-ever budget allocation of Rs 7,032 crore has been provided for these projects, which is 694% more than the average of 2009-14.
During 2014-22, 989 km sections (350 km of new lines and 639 km of doubling) falling fully/partly in AP have been commissioned at an average rate of 123.63 km per year, which is 70% more commissioning than during 2009-14 (72.6 km per year) in undivided Andhra Pradesh, he explained.