Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed officials to commence repairs on an estimated 46,000 km of damaged roads across the State at the earliest.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy chaired a review meeting at his camp office on Monday on the condition of roads in the State and directed officials to take up repairs in cities and municipalities on a priority basis, and ensure that Andhra Pradesh becomes a ‘pothole-free State’. The Chief Minister said that roads should be first made pothole-free, followed by carpeting, and that the repairs should be completed by June 2022.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said that officials must first focus on roads with the maximum damage, and ensure that there is a visible improvement in the quality of the roads after the completion of the repairs. Officials informed him that there was a delay in works due to incessant rains, and said that they would take up repairs on 8,268 km of roads by the end of this month after finalising tenders. Officials said that all repairs would be completed between December and June. Further, the Chief Minister directed the authorities to cover all bridges and flyovers and make plans to bring ROBs and bridges under Phase 1.
He instructed officials to focus on restoring roads and take pictures before and after repairing the roads, similar to the Nadu-Nedu scheme. He asked them to concentrate on repairing and maintaining existing roads before starting construction of new roads. He told them to prepare an action plan on the expenditure that would be incurred.
With Union Minister for Transport Nitin Gadkari scheduled to visit the State next month, the Chief Minister directed officials to chart out pending projects that are to be resolved. Further, he instructed the authorities to blacklist contractors who bagged the tenders for NDB projects and have not started works and directed them to serve notices on such contractors.
Municipal and Urban Development Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma, Municipal and Urban Development Department Special Chief Secretary Y. Srilakshmi, Transport Department Principal Secretary M.T. Krishnababu, Panchayati Raj Principal Secretary Gopalakrishna Dwivedi and Finance Secretary K.V.V. Satyanarayana were present.
