VIJAYAWADA
Giving an assurance to Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) that the Central government would extend full support for its development, especially in the infrastructure sector, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said his ministry would be spending about ₹3 lakh crore on road construction in A.P. in three years.
Out of 22 greenfield express highways being laid in the country, six were in A.P., including expressways linking Raipur to Visakhapatnam, Nagpur to Vijayawada, Chittoor to Thatchur in Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam. Besides, an 85-km stretch of Bengaluru-Chennai expressway passes through A.P.
Mr. Gadkari agreed to sanction the Visakhapatnam port-Bheemili- Bhogapuram NH-26 beach corridor project and Vijayawada eastern bypass, including a bridge on the Krishna river and 20 RoBs and to declare Bhakarapeta-Badvel (Kadapa), Porumamilla (Kadapa)-Bestavaripeta (Prakasam), Punganur-Chinnagottikallu via Pulicherla (Chittoor), Sabbavaram (Visakhapatnam)-Tuni (East Godavari) via Chodavaram and Narsipatnam and Visakhapatnam-Bhadrachalam via Narsipatnam, Chintapalli and Chintur highways as national highways.
Inaugurates flyover
Addressing a public meeting at IGMC stadium here after inaugurating the west-side Benz Circle flyover and virtually dedicating 21 road projects to the nation and laying the foundation stone for 30 projects (whose combined cost is ₹21,599 crore) in the presence of Union Minister for Tourism G. Kishan Reddy and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy among a host of other dignitaries on Thursday, Mr. Gadkari said the Narendra Modi government was not discriminating against any State as the country belonged to all people and A.P. would get 100% support from the Centre.
He observed that A.P. emerged as a progressive State under the leadership of Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy and said, with its superior maritime infrastructure, talented manpower and various other advantages, the State was poised to play a crucial role in the growth of the national economy.
Bioethanol hub
He suggested that A.P. had the potential to become a hub for the manufacture of bioethanol using its surplus quantities of broken rice, and to become a leader in the seaports sector.
Mr. Gadkari said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRT&H) had no dearth of money and would sanction any project asked by the States, including A.P.
Referring to the trends in mobility, Mr. Gadkari said the MoRT&H was aggressively promoting the usage of electricity in mass public transport and laid greater emphasis on generating power from green hydrogen and sewage water. Besides, scooters and motorcycles powered by flex engines which run both on ethanol and petrol were set to be launched soon.
These initiatives were aimed at reducing the country’s dependence on import of gas and crude oil as their import bill stood at ₹8 lakh crore and was expected to balloon to a whopping ₹25 lakh crore in the next five years.
