Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari has said that the length of National Highways in Andhra Pradesh has increased by 2926 Km in the last four years. He said, the length of NHs in the state before May 2014 was 4193 Km which has now increased to 7118 Km. A total investment for development of National Highwayin Andhra Pradesh is likely to be around one lakh crore rupees.Under Bharatmala, about 2,520 Km of roads amounting to Rs44 thousandcrore have been envisaged.Shri Gadkari was addressing media after laying the foundation stone for, and inaugurating National Highways and Port Connectivity projects worth Rs 6688 Crore and inaugurating port projects worth over 1000 crores in Andhra Pradesh at an event in Vishakhapatnam yesterday. He said, since 2014, 15 projects having a length of 902 Km amounting to Rs 5309crore have been completed. Further, 37 projects are ongoing with a total length of 1643 Kms with total project cost of Rs 15700 crore. Another 97 works of total project cost of Rs 27,436crore have been awarded.The NH projects for which foundation stone was laid include capacity augmentation of the existing 4-lane, 13.47 km stretch of NH-16 from Icchapuram to Narasannapetat a cost of Rs439 Crore, 6-laning of 54.20 km stretch of NH-16 from Narasannapet to Ranasthalamat a cost of Rs1350 Crore, 6-laning of NH-16 from Ranasthalam to Anandapuram (Visakhapatnam) at a cost of Rs 1187.10 Crore and 6-laning of Anandapuram –Pendurthi – Anakapalli Section of NH-16 at a cost of Rs 2013 Crore.
These projects will improve connectivity between Chennai and Kolkata, reduce travel time between the two cities and also lower traffic congestion in Vishakhapatnam city.Shri Gadkari also said that fishery was very important for the state of Andhra Pradesh. He 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 one lakh thirty five thousand crores under Sagarmala are under various stages of implementation in the state. Shri Gadkari inaugurated the upgraded iron ore handling facility at Outer Harbour of Vizag Port at a cost of Rs 580 Crores, two newly developed Berths at the inner harbour and a high rise wall of 7.5 m constructed from Seahorse Junction to Convent Junction to prevent dust from spreading to neighbouring residential areas.The Port Connectivity projects for which Shri Gadkari laid the foundation stone include 12.7 km long 4-lane connectivity from NH-16 to Vishakhapatnam Port at a cost of Rs 549 Crore under Bharatmala and 0.85 km Grade Separator from H7 area to port connectivity road bypassing convent junction in Vizag at a cost of Rs 39.93 Crore.Shri Gadkarialso dedicated to the nation the 4.15 km 4-laning of balance connectivity road from Visakhapatnam Port to NH-16, executed at a cost of Rs 100 Crore. In addition, he inauguratedPort Projects worth Rs 1062 Crore and laidthe foundation stone for port projects worth Rs.679 Crore.