Hyderabad: Telangana Roads and Buildings (R&B) minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy met with Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on Monday, June 24, to discuss the state’s road infrastructure and funding requirements.
During the meeting, Venkat Reddy made several key requests to the Union minister. Firstly, the Telangana minister urged Gadkari to convert 16 state highways in the state into national highways and allocate them national highway (NH) numbers.
On Hyderabad-Vijayawada six-lane highway
Speaking to the media after the meeting, the minister said that the delay of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada National Highway into a six-lane highway has been slightly delayed due to the election code.
“GMR company was supposed to take over the toll road project and finish it by 2024, but they have failed to complete the work due to various factors. As a result, many accidents are happening daily and people are dying. Therefore, I pleaded with the Union minister to expedite the completion of the project as soon as possible,” he stated.
Reddy also stated that he had requested the Union minister to accelerate the construction of the Uppal-Ghatkesar flyover, as the project has been ongoing for the past four years.
In response, the Union minister acted promptly and directed the authorities to terminate the existing contract and issue new tenders to facilitate the completion of the works.
Reddy further said that special efforts are being made to construct the Regional Ring Road (RRR) in Telangana.
“The RRR project was temporarily put on hold when the previous government informed the central government that it would not pay the utility charges. However, when the Congress party came into power. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and the speaker sent a letter to the central government stating that they would pay the utility charges. This allowed the RRR project to move forward again,” he added.
Reddy meets Bandi Sanjay
During his visit to Delhi, he also made a courtesy call to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar.
He is also likely to meet Union Coal minister G Kishan Reddy on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Reddy also revealed that he is planning to meet Union Environment and Forest minister Bhupendra Singh on Tuesday, June 25, to seek forest clearances for the construction of roads in the state.
