The length of national highways have increased by almost 3,000 km in Andhra Pradesh since the BJP government came to power in the Centre, said Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday.
The length of national highways in the state before May 2014 was 4,193 km which has now increased to 7,118 km and that the government was planning to spend a further Rs one lakh crore for development of highways in Andhra Pradesh, he said, after laying the foundation stones for several projects in the state and also inaugurating some national highway and port connectivity projects in Vishakhapatnam, according to an official statement.
"Since 2014, 15 projects having a length of 902 kms amounting to Rs 5,309 crore have been completed. Further, 37 projects are ongoing with a total length of 1,643 kms with total project cost of Rs 15,700 crore. Another 97 works of total project cost of Rs 27,436 crore have been awarded," he said.
Gadkari added that fishery was also very important for the state of Andhra Pradesh and gave assurance that the government would focus on developing fishing harbours and fish processing and packaging centres in the state.
He said that 108 projects worth more than 1.35 lakh lakh crore under the government's flagship Sagarmala project were under various stages of implementation in the state.
Earlier this week, Gadkari said that Andhra Pradesh will get central government assistance to develop the Vodarevu port in Prakasam district, provided the state government is able to provide 3,000 acres of land for the purpose.
With regard to the Visakhapatnam port expansion, the minister said that it was not possible due to space constraints as the existing port has become part of the city. “So we have written a letter to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu offering a major port at Vodarevu for which 3,000 acres of land is needed,” the minister said.
In October last year, Gadkari inaugurated national highway projects worth Rs 1,928.46 crore and laid the foundation stone for projects worth Rs 2,539.08 crore in Andhra Pradesh.
IANS inputs