The long-awaited inauguration of the NAD Flyover was completed with Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy formally dedicating it to the nation on Friday evening.
Though the flyover was operational for the past several months, minor works were pending which were completed recently. The NAD Flyover and seven other development works, undertaken by the Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) at a total cost of ₹186 crore, were inaugurated by the Chief Minister.
The other works virtually inaugurated from the NAD Flyover were: a commercial complex constructed at a cost of ₹7.60 crore at Pithapuram Colony, widening of the 9 km stretch of road from Anandapuram Junction to Boni at cost of ₹7.55 crore, Peda Rushikonda Beach Master Plan Road, which was widened at a cost of ₹7.50 crore, the Visakha Valley Road developed at a cost of ₹6.97 crore, a kalyana mandapam built at a cost of ₹5.14 crore at China Mushidiwada and a community hall constructed at Thatichetlapalem at a cost of ₹1.56 crore.
Visakhapatnam West MLA P.G.V.R. Naidu met the Chief Minister at the flyover and impressed upon him the need to construct an underpass between Saketapuram and Kakaninagar for the smooth flow of traffic on the flyover. The TDP MLA later said that the Chief Minister had immediately referred the issue to the GVMC Commissioner and asked him to take necessary action.
Earlier during the day, Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao inspected the NAD Flyover along with Collector A. Mallikarjuna. Interacting with reporters, he said that the State government was committed to the development of all three regions of Andhra Pradesh through decentralised development.
He said that concentration of development at one place, like it was done in the case of Hyderabad in the past, would once again see demands for further division of A.P. over a period of time. The Tourism Minister asserted that there was no going back on the decision to make Visakhapatnam an executive capital and Kurnool the judicial capital of the State.