Rs 10,000 crore for development of rural road network: Lokesh

Panchayat Raj Minister Nara Lokesh has said that his department will spend a whopping Rs 10,000 crore in the next one year on the creation and repair of road network in all the gram panchayats in the State. He said on Thursday that the objective is to provide road connectivity to even the remotest village in the State and that the Panchayat Raj Engineering Department (PRED) is preparing the strategy for the same.

According to PRED officials, 36,155 out of the total 47,031 habitations in the State have BT road connectivity as of March this year. They said that the plan is to provide at least one BT road to the remaining unconnected habitations by 2020. While 3,274 habitations, which have more than 250 population, are proposed to be connected under Externally Aided Project (EAP) with assistance from AIIB, works in the remaining 2,466 habitations, with a population between 100 and 250, are proposed to be taken up with NREGS funds. 

“With the AIIB loan of Rs 3,575 crore, 4,864 km long road works in the panchayats with over 250 people will be taken up. Another Rs 325 crore will be spent for repairing the damaged BT roads under phase-2 of the EAP. About Rs 1,630 crore will be spent from NREGS funds to create a road network of 3,237 km in the remote villages with less than 100 population,” the PRED officials explained.

Furthermore, the PRED has also proposed to take up BT Road Maintenance Project with an outlay of Rs 2,000 cr for resurfacing and reconstruction of damaged roads with necessary road signage and safety measures under the Rural Road Maintenance Policy approved by the Government of AP. While the department was allocated Rs 1,804 crore in the 2017-18 budget, it has been given Rs 2,044 crore this year. “We have also sent a proposal for additional sanction of `300 crore, which is under process. So, we have a sanctioned budget of Rs 3,848 crore, besides the funding from external agencies,” the officials concluded.