Chandrababu unveils roadmap for 599-km long expressway in Andhra

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday unveiled a roadmap for building a six- lane expressway of 598.83 kms, connecting the state's new capital Amaravati with Anantapuramu district, at a cost of Rs 27,600 crore.

Addressing a video conference with Collectors of five districts and other top officials, the Chief Minister said 26,793 acres of land has to be acquired for the project. Of this, 9,324 hectares was forest land that has to be de-notified.

"You have to complete the land acquisition process in six months. Where the cost of land is high, go for land pooling to reduce the costs," he told the Collectors.

The project will cost a staggering Rs 27,600 crore, the Chief Minister said, adding that a railway line would also be built parallel to the expressway.

Close to a year after Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari promised to fund the expressway, the state government is yet to prepare a detailed project report.

The proposed expressway would traverse through Guntur, Prakasam, Kurnool, Kadapa and Anantapuramu districts with interlinking roads to Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

A separate road each to Kadapa and Kurnool would cut the expressway.

"This will be a unique straight road with no twists or turns. It will have many bridges and tunnels along the way for a seamless flow of traffic. Presently, it will be a six-lane road but in future, it could be expanded to eight lanes, so keep adequate land in reserve," Chandrababu said.

The expressway would change the face of the backward regions in the state, he said, adding that industrial townships could be developed along the road in places where water and mineral resources were available.

A high-level committee would be constituted to monitor the project and he himself would review it every week as it was the third important project for him after Amaravati and Polavaram, the Chief Minister said.

Special Chief Secretary (Transport, Roads and Buildings) B Sam Bob and other officials attended the meeting.