Road works moving at a sluggish pace in CR

Amaravati: The pace of works pertaining to creation of basic infrastructure in capital city, Amaravati, has been slow and far below the expectations of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, The Chief Minister holds weekly review on the development works with officials of APCRDA and ADC.

Highlights:

• Works of seed access road and seven sub-arterial roads yet to be completed
• Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu laid foundation stone for seed access road in June, 2016 and for the other roads in March this year
• The seed access road will directly connect the capital city with Chennai-Kolkata National Highway 16
• The 18.4-km long four-lane seed access road taken up at a cost of Rs 215 crore is being built between Undavalli and Dondapadu villages
• Land acquisition for a stretch of 4 km for seed access road yet to be completed

Although the State government is planning to begin the works of government complexes in Administrative City from January, the works related to important seed access road and seven sub-arterial roads (six and four lanes) in capital city may not be completed by then.

Non-completion of land acquisition for seed access road and some other issues are yet to be sorted out. Sources in Amaravati Development Corporation (ADC) said the roads works could take another five to six months for completion.

Chief Minister laid foundation stone for seed access road in June 2016 and seven other priority roads on March 29, 2017. The seed access road will connect the capital city with Chennai-Kolkata National Highway 16 directly. Even though almost one-and-half years have passed, the progress of the road works has been sluggish.

In a recent meeting, the Chief Minister reportedly admonished the APCRDA and ADC officials for snail’s pace of development works and directed them to speed up the road works.

The 18.4-km long four-lane seed access road taken up at a cost of Rs 215 crore is being built between Undavalli and Dondapadu villages. However, the road works have been stalled between 14th km and 18th km due to non-completion of land acquisition.

“We are waiting for APCRDA, who is responsible to clear the land matters. We were told that the Guntur district administration has been on the mission to acquire land for the remaining 4 km,” a senior official of ADC said.

Besides, the ADC has to complete seven priority roads- N-14, N-4, E-8, N-9, E-10, E-14 and N-16 in capital city area at a total cost of Rs 1,091 crore. Explaining the reasons for delay in road works, ADC Chief Engineer Moses Kumar told The Hans India that as it was black cotton soil in Amaravati, it was difficult for them to execute road works during rainy season.

Besides, the soil has to be consolidated with gravel to make it ready for laying roads, he said. “We are taking all necessary measures to speed up the road works. We may complete the work by March or April,” he said.

The ADC has started works of some bridges a few days ago at Rayapudi, Abburajupalem, Sakhamuru, Nekkalu, Uddandarayunipalem, Krishnayapalem and Nekkalu. “Once, the bridge works are completed, we will speed up the road works,” the Chief Engineer said.

BY K Varaprasada Rao