13 hours ago
Centre clears 140-metre wide ORR for Amaravati
Vijayawada: With the AP govt agreeing to shoulder land acquisition cost, the Centre has given green signal for a taking up 140 metres wide outer ring road (ORR) for Amaravati. Initially, the Centre agreed to give 70-metre wide ORR for Amaravati while chief minister
wanted it to expand to 150 metres.
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After deliberations with senior officials, union minister Gadkari agreed for 140-metre wide ORR.
T
hough named Amaravati ORR, it also serves the major cities of Vijayawada, Guntur and Tenala in the AP capital region. It will complement the Vijayawada by-pass road on the west side of the city. The Vijayawada east by-pass road was cancelled as the ORR on the eastern side passes very close to the proposed by-pass road.
The technical appraisal committee (TAC) of union ministry of road transport and highways (Morth) headed by secretary apprised that a highway with a width of 70 metres is sufficient to take up six-lane road project as ORR for Amaravati.
The committee felt that the right of way (RoW) with 70 metres would also be sufficient to expand the proposed six-lane to eight lane along with providing service roads on both sides.
However, Naidu during the meeting with Gadkari insisted that Amaravati is being developed as one of the modern town in the country and the RoW with 70 metres for ORR would not be sufficient for the city's requirement in the next 50 years.
He explained that they have already attracted huge investments to the capital city and it would become difficult to go for big ORR in future. He wanted the Centre to grant the ORR with 150 metre width with a promise to take the additional cost of land acquisition by the state govt.
The Centre had already estimated that it would cost Rs.2665 crore for land acquisition for 70-meter ORR and asked the state govt to take the additional financial burden over and above it for taking up the 150-meter ORR.
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Subsequently, Gadkari agreed to take up the 140 metre ORR and directed the officials to place the proposals before the competent authority.
Naidu wanted to develop the ORR in a prestigious highway with 12-lane along with separate corridors for railway lane, metro corridors. "The ORR going to be the game-changer infrastructure project of Amaravati," said Telugu Desam Parliamentary Party (TDPP) leader Lavu Srikrishnadevarayalu.
He said that Centre had also granted several road infrastructure projects connecting Amaravati ORR following the chief minister Chandrababu Naidu's insistence. He explained that Centre had agreed to connect ORR with two spurs to ensure better connectivity with capital city by scrapping the proposal to take up Vijayawada east bypass.
The Centre suspended the Vijayawada east bypass as it found to be parallel to the alignment of the proposed ORR. Two separate connecting roads would be developed connecting ORR with the existing NH-16 in Guntur district. While one road would be developed between Chinakakani and Tenali and other would be taken up near Narakoduru on the outskirts of Guntur city.
