Highlighting the importance of laying roads in nation-building, the Union Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways R. P. N. Singh asserted that the four-laning of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada section of the National Highway-9 would be completed by October 2012.
He was addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation for the four-laning of the 182-km stretch of NH-9 at Narketpally on Sunday evening. Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and Union Minister for Urban Development S. Jaipal Reddy attended the function, the first major one in Telangana region in the last three months.
BOT basis
Mr Singh said that the expansion project from Hyderabad to Vijayawada on NH-9 was taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 1,170 crore on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis. The project also envisages augmenting the four-lane facility to six-lane standards before 14th year.
The NH-9, which begins at Pune in Maharashtra, extends over 841 km with 336 km in Maharashtra, 75 km in Karnataka and 430 km in Andhra Pradesh and ends at Machilipatnam.
A total of 525 km the National Highways has been identified in Andhra Pradesh for four-laning on BOT basis under NHDP Phase-III, the Union Minister said, adding that four-laning of 1,024 kms length of NH-5 (Golden Quadrilateral) was already completed. The stretch is now again being improved to six-laning standards by the National Highways Authority of India.
Project delayed
Mr Jaipal Reddy said that the project which was sanctioned in November 2007 was delayed due to technical reasons.
The contractors approached the courts which further delayed the execution of the project by one year. Ultimately the project took off much to the delight of all of us, he remarked.
Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said that improved road infrastructure fosters the comprehensive development of backward areas.
The expansion project would ease traffic congestion and prevent accidents on the high traffic density stretch of NH-9 which earlier witnessed accidents at regular intervals, he said.
