Vijayawada: Roads and Buildings minister B.C. Janardhan Reddy declared that the state government is developing roads worth nearly ₹2,500 crore this year throughout Andhra Pradesh.
Holding a review meeting with senior officials of the R&B Department at the Engineer-in-Chief's office in Vijayawada on Thursday, the minister directed them to expedite work on these roads. Janardhan Reddy asked chief engineers to personally monitor the works at the field level and ensure their timely completion, including roads that are being repaired and reconstructed.
The minister wanted officials to prioritise around 650 km of road works under the NDB and CRIF schemes that got stalled earlier. He said the government will soon hold a meeting with NDB contractors to accelerate pending works.
He assured that the pending bills of these contractors will be cleared quickly, so that they resume the remaining works without delay. Janardhan Reddy suggested that drones be utilised to assess the condition of roads and bridges across the state. He said priority must be given to repair the fully damaged bridges first. He wanted the 10 incomplete bridges to be taken up immediately. Highlighting innovation in infrastructure, the minister suggested that Eco-Pave roads using steel slag could be built in select areas.
He asked officials to select four of the roads for which detailed project reports (DPRs) have been prepared, which require no land acquisition or viability gap funding. These could be developed under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, he stated.
Janardhan Reddy suggested that the vacant posts of assistant engineers and assistant executive engineers be filled with appointment of engineering assistants of village secretariats to these posts, so that field-level supervision could be strengthened.
Those who participated in the review meeting included special chief secretary (R&B) M.T. Krishna Babu and AP Roads Development Corporation (APRDC) chairman Pragada Nageswara Rao, apart from other officials.