Important points from R and B Meeting

The Chief Minister held a review with the officials of the roads and buildings department to know the progress of the works undertaken by their department. 

The officials informed the Chief Minister that Government of India has sanctioned a fund of Rs 1,793 crores under phase one for the construction of 8 National Highway roads. Eight roads totaling 1249 kms were declared as National Highways in the State in this year covering Anantapur, Guntur, West Godavari, East Godavari, Vizag and Vizianagaram Districts. The National Highways are NH 167A & 167B, 516E, 365BB, 544DD, 544E, 167, 216A.

The NHAI informed the Government of Andhra Pradesh that the Amaravati outer ring road can be treated as a by-pass to the National Highways 16 and 65.

The department officials also informed the Chief Minister that peg marking for the Amaravati-Anantapur National Expressway have been completed in Anantapur & Kurnool Districts and are in progress in Prakasam, Guntur and Kadapa.

The department of roads and buildings has identified IIT Tirupati as Knowledge Partner and a MoU is being worked out for partnership with R&B and NAC.

Reviewing the establishment of Andhra Pradesh road maintenance system, the Chief Minister asked the officials to study the Madhya Pradesh system which has adopted the best practices for planning and maintenance of roads.  

The Andhra Pradesh Road Maintenance has completed data collections for 13 districts (41,300kms) and rolling out plans for State Highways of 10 districts has been completed.

The department of roads and buildings will conduct training in road maintenance system to field engineers on 17^th and 26^th May and in June in districts of Srikakulam, East Godavari and Chitoor respectively.

National Academy of Constructions will hold a 1 day orientation programme on 19^th , 23^rd and 30^th  to bring awareness on the good construction practices and the new technologies in highway construction.

The department has identified 1013 blackspots on State Highways in the State and the Chief Minister said that interventions such as improvement of junctions, improvement of substandard curves, erection of caution boards should be completed on all the roads before the monsoon season begins.

While reviewing the status of works under central road fund, the Chief Minister said that 132 works for this year should be completed by December 2018. The total cost of the works is Rs. 1690. Out of the 132 works, 61 are in progress and 71 are in tender process.

The officials informed the Chief Minister that for the construction of two lane roads of 2062 km connecting madal to mandal headquarters, the department plans to spend Rs.2100 cores. 

VCIC ROADS STATUS

The officials while making a presentation on the progress of works under VCIC roads said that 11 roads (372 Km) have been identified to develop under VCIC-DP at a cost of Rs.3,806 Cr.

ACTION PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF

STATE HIGHWAYS

The department has come up with an action plan for the development of State Highways. The officials said that a robust road network particularly State Highways are to be improved to meet the present and future traffic besides providing smooth ride, increasing connectivity to rural, urban and to all minor and major settlements. 

The government has decided to widen all the existing State Highways as two lane roads within next five years. It is also being planned to widen about 120 Km length of State Highways within town limits/urban areas from two lanes to four lanes to relieve congestion. A total amount required for completing of 774 km of two lanes was projected at 938 crores.

99% of the target was achieved by the department with regard to the construction of rural roads and out of 42 bridges, 37 have been constructed. Rs 572 cores has been spent of these works.

With regard to construction of the Vaikunta mala ring road, NHAI has suggested to the government to take up the responsibility of land pooling.