HYDERABAD: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is all set to take up the construction of a greenfield highway between Mancherial and Warangal at an estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore. The NHAI has decided to invite tenders for the selection of a private contractor to execute the road project.
It will be a four-lane access-controlled greenfield highway covering a distance of 108 km from Narva village in Mancherial to Oorugonda village in Warangal district.
Under Package I of the project, the NHAI will lay the road from Narva village to Puttapaka, which is about 31 km away, at a cost of Rs 873 crore on a hybrid-annuity basis. The second and third packages will cost Rs 881 crore and Rs 852 crore, respectively.
This project has been sanctioned under the Other Economic Corridor Programme as part of the Nagpur - Vijayawada Corridor. Meanwhile, the Centre has also planned a 100-km-long greenfield highway in Khammam to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 2,200 crore.
These greenfield highways are being constructed under the Green Highway Policy. As part of this, the implementing agency has to plant shrubs, which are natural sinks for air pollutants, along the highway. The selected agency would also have to place select ornamental trees and shrubs at important places while also carrying out the turfing works and landscaping.
Green Highways Policy
In 2015, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways launched the Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation, Beautification & Maintenance) Policy to promote the greening of highway corridors with the participation of community, farmers, private sector, NGOs, and government institutions.