On July 13, 2018, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation returned from his 3 day visit to Andhra Pradesh where he laid foundation stone and inaugurated National Highway and Port connectivity projects worth a total of Rs. 6688 crore at an event in Vishakhapatnam.
Shri Nitin Gadkari to lay Foundation Stone for widening of NH-16 between Icchapuram and Anakapalli in Andhra Pradesh
On July 13, 2018, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari, laid the foundation stone for enhancing NH-16 to improve connectivity between Chennai and Kolkata, reduce travel time between the two cities and also lower traffic congestion in Vishakhapatnam city.
Details of the project of NH-16:
i.This includes the following:
- Capacity augmentation of the existing 4-lane, 13.47 km stretch of NH-16 from Icchapuram to Narasannapet at a cost of Rs439 Crores.
- 6-laning of 54.20 km stretch of NH-16 from Narasannapet to Ranasthalam at a cost of Rs1350 Crore,
- 6-laning of NH-16 from Ranasthalam to Anandapuram(Visakhapatnam) at a cost of Rs 1187.10 Crore ,
- 6-laning of Anandapuram –Pendurthi – Anakapalli Section of NH-16 at a cost of Rs 2013 Crore.
ii.All the three projects are being taken up under the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) Phase-V programme.
Achievements in the National Highways category of the Government:
- The length of National Highways in Andhra Pradesh has increased by 2926 Km in the last four years.
- A total investment for development of National Highway in Andhra Pradesh is likely to be around one lakh crore rupees in last 4 years.
- Under Bharatmala, about 2,520 Km of roads amounting to Rs. 44,000 crore have been conceived.
- 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.
Shri Nitin Gadkari to inaugurate port projects worth Rs 1062 Crores in Vishakhapatnam
On July 13, 2018, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Shri Nitin Gadkari, laid the foundation stone for port connectivity projects.
i.Port connectivity Projects:
- 12.7 km long 4-lane connectivity from NH-16 to Vishakhapatnam Portat a cost of Rs 549 Crores under Bharatmala ,
- 0.85 km Grade Separator from H7 area to port connectivity road bypassing convent junction in Vizagat a cost of Rs 39.93 Crores,
- 4.15 km 4-laning of balance connectivity road from Visakhapatnam Port to NH-16, executed at a cost of Rs 100 Crores,
ii.Ports:
- Inauguration of Port Projects worth Rs 1062 Crores and lay the foundation stone for port projects worth Rs.679 Crores in Vishakhapatnam.
- the Centre plans to build a port at Vadarevu in Andhra Pradesh’s Praksam district, on 3,000 acres of land.
- Formation of a special purpose vehicle with the state government to build the new port is in consideration.
- He inaugurated the upgraded iron ore handling facility at Outer Harbour of Vizag Port at a cost of Rs 580 Crores,
- 2 newly developed Berths at the inner harbour and a high rise wall of 7.5 mconstructed from Seahorse Junction to Convent Junction to prevent dust from spreading to neighbouring residential areas.
Other Points:
i.Meeting with officials of Shipping Ministry, Port Trusts and Inland waterways Authority in Vishakhapatnam will be held on July 13,2018 for reviewing the progress of ongoing port and waterways projects.
ii.He visited the Polavaram Dam site on July 12,2018.
iii.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.
iv.Also, development of fishing harbours and fish processing and packaging centres in the state are under focus.
About BharatMala Project:
Bharatmala Pariyojana is a centrally-sponsored and funded road and highways project of the Government of India. The total investment for 83,677 km (51,994 mi) committed new highways is estimated at Rs. 5.35 lakh crore, making it the single largest outlay for a government road construction scheme
Bharatmala will connect 550 district headquarters (from current 300) to minimum 4-lane highway by raising the number of corridors to 50 (from current 6) and move 80% freight traffic (40% currently) to national highways by connecting 24 logistics parks, 66 inter-corridors (IC) of total 8,000 km (5,000 mi), 116 feeder routes (FR) of total 7,500 km (4,700 mi) and 67 north east multimodal waterway ports.