VIJAYAWADA: The State government has embarked on a mission to construct 7,213 km roads with Rs 4,976 crore in rural areas, said Deputy Chief Minister (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Rural Water Supply, Environment, Forest, Science and Technology) Pawan Kalyan.
He held a review meeting with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and Panchayat Raj engineering department officials at his camp office here on Thursday.
Asserting that the development of the State is only possible with a better road network in rural areas, the Deputy CM instructed the officials to prepare estimates for the construction of roads in villages.
Explaining the Rural Road Project taken up with AIIB aid, the officials said it was launched in 2018-19 to construct roads to all villages with more than 250 population. In order to take up road construction works worth Rs 200 crore every month, the State government should provide Rs 75 crore matching grant, while the bank would lend Rs 125 crore, they said.
Directing the officials to develop a special online portal to ensure that the AP Rural Road Project works progress at a steady pace, the Deputy CM said, “A special column should be included to receive suggestions from the public. We will request the Centre to make necessary changes to reduce the matching grant to 10% of the project cost.”
