Naidu Wants 1,040 km of Roads Laid in State, Even by Working at Night
CM wants 24x7 work, swift clearances to finish key road projects by year-end;
Vijayawada: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Monday wanted 1,040 kilometres of roads in AP costing Rs 20,067 crore completed expeditiously through a grant of mandatory permissions, including forest and wildlife clearances, for land acquisition.
In this regard, the CM presided over a meeting with senior officials of Roads and Buildings (R&B) department, other agencies and contractors at the Secretariat. Speaking on the occasion, he stressed on officials to resolve all hurdles to complete the targeted road within the targeted time even by giving permission to work at night.
“Once projects are taken up 24X7, they can be completed expeditiously,” Chandrababu Naidu underlined. He expressed displeasure with some contract agencies for failing to execute road works as per schedule.
AP has 8,744 km of roads, 4,406 km of them belonging to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), 641 km under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and 3,697 km maintained by the R&B.
Officials informed the Chief Minister that at present, 3,483-km stretch of roads under 144 projects are being built at a cost of Rs 76,856 crore by NHAI and MoRTH. A few more roads are going to be taken up in the days to come. Of these, Chandrababu Naidu wanted 1,040 km of roads costing Rs 20,067 crore to be completed by the end of this year.
He wanted road connectivity between Bengaluru, Kadapa and Vijayawada completed by June 2026. To avoid any delay for want of permissions or clearances from various agencies, he even advised officials to form WhatsApp groups and get work expedited.
Officials explained to the CM that during the last financial year, a 770-km stretch of roads falling under NHAI and MoRTH had been completed at an estimated cost of Rs 11,325 crore in the state.
With regard to the Pothole Free Roads Mission launched by Chandrababu Naidu in November last for the benefit of commuters, officials said they had completed nearly 97 per cent of works by June 6, 2025. The remaining works will be completed by the end of July 31, 2025, officials added.