A team from the World Bank visited the roads being improved under the AP Road Sector Project (APRSP) recently. Later, the team suggested to the government to expedite the process and complete the ongoing works.
The government had taken up the development of various roads under the project with an objective of providing better quality, capacity, and safe roads to users. The project taken up at an estimated cost of ₹2,245 crore was being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh Road Development Corporation (APRDC).
Sources said that the WB team found that the civil works under the up-gradation packages such as Kurnool-Devanakonda Road (KD-02), Proddatur-Jammalamadugu Road (MJ-04), Hanuman Junction to Vissannapeta (PNV-09) Road were progressing slowly. “Complete these works substantially by October/November 2017,” the team told the Roads and Buildings (R&B) officials. The R&B officials informed the visiting team that the APRDC was terminating non-performing contracts. For speedy completion of the projects, the government was going in for re-bidding.
The Kakinada-Rajahmundry (KR-07) package was also de-linked from the APRSP. The package work had commenced on March 13, 2013. In view of the slow progress, the package was de-linked, the sources said.
The WB team, however, appreciated the implementation of Long Term Performance based Contracts. It was the first-of-its-kind programme taken up on such a large scale in India, sources said.
The team visited the Road Safety Demo Corridor, Kadapa- Renigunta Road, Trauma Care Centre in Rajampet that was constructed under the project and the patrol vehicles purchased and deployed exclusively for the project.
