Centre okays road projects worth Rs 573.13 cr to TS, AP

HYDERABAD: The Centre has approved road projects worth Rs 573.13 crore for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari informed that widening of existing two-lane road with paved shoulders from Hyderabad-Bhupalapatnam section on NH-163 in Mulugu district has been approved at a cost of Rs 136.22 crore. He said the project stretch connects major tourist places like Laknavaram lake and Bogatha waterfalls. The development of this the stretch will improve interstate connectivity between Telangana and Chhattisgarh. The minister said Mulugu district is a Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected district and the development of this stretch would help the government to have control over LWE activities.

Gadkari said rehabilitation and upgrading to 2/4 lane with paved shoulders on NH-167K including the approaches of the iconic bridge across river Krishna in Nagarkurnool district in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has been approved at the total cost of Rs 436.91 crore on EPC mode. He said NH-167K will reduce the distance between Hyderabad/Kalwakurthy and important destinations like Tirupati, Nandyal and Chennai by about 80 km as the traffic presently following NH-44 will take NH-167K on its completion.

He said that Nandyal is an important trading centre for agricultural products and forest products as it is nearer to Nallamala forest. The sanctioned iconic bridge at Kollapur would be the gateway for both states and will boost tourism prospects, he added.