Gadkari lays foundation stone for Rs 13,000 cr road projects in Telangana

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation for 14 national highway (NH) projects in Telangana through video conferencing on Monday.

As per an official release, these projects include 765.663 kilometres long roads worth Rs 13,169 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari informed that a total of 59 road works with an approved length of 1918 kilometres and a cost of Rs 17,617 crore have been sanctioned in Telangana in the last 6 years.

"Of this, 1,782 km length has already been sanctioned with a cost of 15,689 crores. Almost all of the 33 districts in the state today have connectivity with National Highways. The remaining district Peddapally will also be connected to the network soon," the Union Minister said.

He stated that there has been a growth of 55.71 per cent NH length in the last 6 years in Telangana.

"Nearly 1400 kilometres NH length has been added during this period in the state. Under Central Road Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) scheme, a sum of Rs 2,436 crore has been sanctioned till now for the state, of which Rs 1483 crore have already been released," he said further.

Gadkari further informed that while construction of 841 kilometres roads worth Rs 4793 crore has been completed since 2014-15 in Telangana, work is going on for construction of another 809 kilometres at a cost of Rs 13,012 crore.

"During the current financial year, 13 major projects costing Rs 8,957 crore of length 328 kilometres are proposed to be awarded in the State. Three major projects for 192 kilometres worth Rs 2339 crore are underbidding," he said.

Notably, another 21 NH works with a total length of 1422 kilometres and a total cost of Rs 27,116 crore are under various stages of DPR preparation and are likely to be completed by the fiscal year 2024-25.

The Union Minister said that in line with the Prime Minister's vision for a New India, the development of world-class transport infrastructure has been prioritized, through initiatives such as the Bharatmala scheme, India's largest-ever infrastructure development program.

The Bharatmala scheme was conceptualized through a scientific study of freight traffic movement between key origin-destination pairs to enable efficient freight and passenger movement.

As per official data, projects with a length of 1,730 kilometres have been identified for development under Bharatmala scheme in the state of Telangana. Out of these 14 projects, 9 projects with length 423 kilometres have already been awarded at a cost of Rs 7,400 crore.

"Development of greenfield and access-controlled corridor has also been planned in Telangana to ease-out traffic on existing corridors, reduce travel time and costs and also provide a boost to the economy," the release stated.

These include--Surat, Ahmadnagar, Solapur, Kurnool, Chennai (75 km length in Telangana); Suryapet - Khammam - Devarapalle (164 km length in Telangana); Indore - Hyderabad (136 km length in Telangana)

The government said that while the development of these corridors will ease the traffic on existing routes, it will also lead to improved savings, due to reduced travel time and fuel consumption thereby also reducing the carbon footprint.

"Development of multiple wayside amenities are also being planned across the corridors to improve rider comfort. The corridors have been planned as fully access-controlled leading to enhanced rider mobility and safety. Development of these corridors would also generate both white-collar and blue-collar jobs thereby also providing the much-needed boost to the economy," it added.

Gadkari further called upon the state to take up diversification of agriculture into economic productivity. He said, the country is already over-producing sugar and rice, and sufficient stocks are available with the government.

"The surplus may be converted to Ethanol, which can be used as an alternative fuel for vehicles. This will not only improve farmers' income, but will also be an indigenous source of fuels for the country," the Minister added.

The event was attended by Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy and General Dr V K Singh, Telangana Minister for Roads and Buildings, Legislative Affairs and Housing Vemula Prashanth Reddy, Speaker of Telangana Assembly Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, MPS and MLAs, in addition to senior officers from the Centre and the State.