All roads in Andhra Pradesh to be free of potholes

Vijayawada: Identifying potholes on roads and restoring them by June 15 is a challenging task in front of the roads and buildings department.

Soon after the directions of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to repair R&B roads across the state, higher officials of the department are in a quandary about completing the task on time.

The state government took a decision on pothole-free roads soon after Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath announced an action plan for pothole-free roads in UP.  

In a review meeting with officials of R&B and Andhra Pradesh Road Development Corporation, Mr Naidu directed them to complete road repairs with the help of 41,556 km computerised road study taken up by AP Road Management System (APRMS).

Officials are busy collecting the district-wise reports on condition of roads from superintending engineers and executive engineers in a two-day workshop started in Vijayawada on Monday to prepare estimates for the road repairs and restoration.

“We are prioritising the roads depending on factors like traffic on road and connectivity. The APRMS study was helpful in analysing road conditions across the state. We are talking to contract agencies to support us and work on a war-footing to meet the targets on time,” said engineer-in-chief (R&B) G. Jagannadha Rao.

Officials were not confident with the completion of works within due date given by the Chief Minister as only three weeks are left for the completion of repairs and even estimates were not yet ready.

“Deadline is creating worries to us. Although it is a tough task, we will try maximum to fill potholes in the state by June 15 with an estimated cost of around Rs 50 crore. We will soon start a mobile app to receive complaints on road repairs and develop mechanism to repair them within 48 hours,”said engineer-in-chief (R&B) (National Highways) P. Subbaraya Sarma.