Hurdles for the declaration of the southern part of the Regional Ring Road spanning 182 km (Choutuppal-Amangal-Shadnagar-Sangareddy) as national highway have been cleared.
Union Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has directed the National Highways Authority of India to seek proposals for declaration of the southern stretch of the RRR as national highway. Mr. Gadkari gave the directions responding to the request made by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy who called on the former in New Delhi on Tuesday. The Union government had already declared the northern part of the RRR as national highway.
The Chief Minister urged the Union Minister to take steps for upgradation of several important State highways as national highways and sought permission for expansion of some of the national highways. He submitted a list of State highways that needed expansion as national highways to Mr. Gadkari and explained to him about the need to declare them as national highways.
During the one-and-a-half hour meeting, Mr. Revanth Reddy briefed the Union Minister about the problems encountered in expansion of national highways and ongoing works. The meeting discussed about the stalemate between the State and Central governments over the expenditure that would be incurred on the removal of utilities like buildings and current poles.
The NHAI asked the State government to bear the expenses involved in the process 10 months ago, but there was no response from the State government. The Congress government which took over the reins in December conveyed its consent through a communication to the NHAI to bear the expenditure. The Chief Minister explained the State’s readiness to bear the expenses involved prompting Mr. Gadkari to enquire about the status of the works with officials concerned.
Mr. Gadkari was reportedly unhappy over the manner in which the officials asked the State government to bear the expenditure related to removal/shifting of the utilities. He said the Centre would be forced to share 50% of the toll charges with the State government if the latter bore the expenditure and assured that the Centre would bear the expenditure incurred in this direction.
The Union Minister asked the Chief Minister to expedite land acquisition and other policy related matters pertaining to the RRR. Mr. Revanth Reddy asked Mr. Gadkari to take steps on expanding the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway to six lanes and the one between Hyderabad and Kalwakurthy into four lane highway.
Responding positively, the Union Minister asked the Chief Minister to send proposals under the CRIF (Construction of Rural Infrastructure Fund) for sanction of works proposed by the State government.
