TS to get 14 highways totalling 765 km

Hyderabad: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for projects worth over Rs 13,000 crore in Telangana. These projects are for a total length of 765.66 km of highways worth Rs 13,169 crore. Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari virtually inaugurated and laid foundations for 14 NH projects in Telangana.

Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari said that a total of 59 road works with approved length of 1,918 km and a cost of Rs 17,617 crore have been sanctioned in Telangana in the last six years. Of this, 1,782 km length has already been sanctioned with a cost of 15,689 crore. Almost all districts in the State now have connectivity with National Highways, he said.

The remaining district Peddapally will also be connected to the network soon. The minister said that there has been a phenomenal growth of 55.71 per cent NH length in the last six years in the state. The timing of this launch, political sources feel, was important as the municipal elections to Warangal and Khammam corporations is due in January to be followed by elections to Graduates' constituency and Nagarjuna Sagar by-election.

Gadkari added that during the current financial year, 13 major projects costing Rs 8,957 crore of length 328 km are proposed to be awarded in the State.

Three major projects for 192 km worth Rs 2,339 crore are under bidding. Another 21 NH works with a total length of 1,422 km and total cost of Rs 27,116 crore are under various stages of DPR (detailed project report) preparation. These works are likely to be completed by FY 2024-25.

Development of greenfield and access-controlled corridors 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. These include Suryapet - Khammam - Devarapalli (164 km length in Telangana) and Indore - Hyderabad (136 km length in Telangana).

While 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, he added.

However, Telangana Minister for Roads and Building V Prashanth Reddy complained that the national highway density was far below the national average in the T state. He also asked Gadkari to develop an alternate National Highway Network around Hyderabad City.

He said the Centre in principle approved upgradation of 25 state roads covering a length of 3,135 km as new national highways. Out of this, so far only 1,366 km length was notified. He wanted that alternate national highway network of Sangareddy - Narsapur - Tupran - Gajwel Jagdevpur - Bhongir - Choutuppal (158 km) and Choutuppal-Shadnagar-Kandi be taken up.