TS govt\'s building infra has seen five-fold rise in last eight years
Hyderabad: The state government's total building infrastructure in the state witnessed nearly a five-fold increase in the last eight years since the formation of the state in 2014.
According to a report released by the government on Friday, the roads and buildings (R&B) department had building infrastructure of 30.43 lakh square feet before the formation of the state in 2014, which has now expanded to 1.32 crore sq. ft.
In the last eight years, the road network has also been expanded by completing 8,179 kilometres of two-lane highways, 321 kilometres of four-lane roads, and 483 bridges.
The state government's public buildings, which were 11.73 lakh square feet in 2014, have now grown to 71.55 lakh square feet. Similarly, residential building space has increased from 18.70 lakh square feet in 2014 to 60.90 lakh square feet.
The major building projects taken up in the state include Telangana State Secretariat, Telangana Martyrs Memorial, 125 feet tall Ambedkar Statue, Integrated district offices complexes, residential complexes for the district officials in office complexes, Integrated Command Control Centre, MLA Camp Offices among others.
Since its inception on June 2, 2014, the state government has embarked on a massive plan to broaden the state's road network. During his first ever review of the department, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao drew forth a road development blueprint.
Four major programmes have been launched as per his instructions: providing double lane connectivity between mandal and district headquarters, increasing capacity by widening some major district roads/state highways to two lanes, constructing bridges, and establishing ring roads/bye passes to major towns.
Status of the road network at the time of the formation of the state was below the national average. Of the total road length of 24,245 km in the state, only 28 per cent of the road length (6,761 km) of the state's R&B roads was double/four–lane/multi lane. The quality of roads was also not up to the standards.
Given that a better road network is critical to economic growth, the state government has prioritised improved road connectivity on both the National Highways as well as the state highways. The national highway density has increased from 2.25 km/100 sq km in 2014 to 4.45 km/100 sq km in 2023.
The double lane, which was 6,093 kilometres long on June 2, 2014, has now increased to 12,060 kms. Similarly, the four-lane and above, which was just 669 kms in 2014, has expanded to 1,154 kms.
The department has taken up a novel idea of bridge-cum-check dam construction wherever it was felt feasible and necessary. This has resulted in storage of water upstream and increase in ground water. The construction cost of the bridge cum check dam will be reduced to 45 -50% when compared to construction of the check dam stand alone.
Of the 184 bridge cum check dams taken up, 141 check dams have been completed.
