Clear hurdles to highway, railway projects, Minister tells officials

Roads & Buildings, Investments and Infrastructure Minister B.C. Janardhan Reddy connected Monday directed officials to resoluteness pending issues related to onshore acquisition and wood clearances to guarantee completion of National Highway and railway projects successful the State by December 2026.

Chairing the 4th Task Force Committee reappraisal gathering astatine the Secretariat successful Amaravati, the Minister reviewed the advancement made since the 3rd committee gathering held successful August past twelvemonth and sought project-wise updates from elder officials of the National Highways and Railways.

Referring to directions issued by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Mr. Janardhan Reddy instructed officials to expedite pending National Highway works being executed nether the supervision of the National Highways Authority of India and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. He urged assorted departments to coordinate efficaciously and marque optimum usage of the Centre’s enactment for infrastructure development.

Officials informed the Minister that, of the 21 onshore acquisition issues related to National Highway projects, 9 had been afloat resolved portion 12 had been partially addressed since the erstwhile reappraisal meeting. Of the full 602 km identified for onshore acquisition, acquisition for 397 km had been completed truthful far.

Reviewing railway projects separately, the Minister stressed the request for coordinated efforts to implicit each ongoing railway works, including ROBs and RUBs, by December 2026. He directed officials to expedite onshore acquisition for sanctioned railway lines and behaviour monthly district-level reviews with Joint Collectors to resoluteness pending issues.

The Minister said cost-sharing issues relating to the Kotipalli–Narsapuram, Nadikudi–Srikalahasti, Bhadrachalam–Kovvur and Kadapa–Bengaluru railway projects would beryllium taken up with the Union Railway Ministry for an aboriginal decision. Senior officials from the R&B, Railways, Revenue and Forest departments attended the meeting.