Andhra Pradesh Roads and Buildings (R&B) Minister B C Janardhan Reddy on Wednesday said over 9,000 km of roadways are in a pathetic condition in the state, and promised to repair them on a war footing.
The minister shared the information about the condition of the roads in the state after assuming office at the secretariat.
“My immediate goal is to repair all the affected roadways on a war footing and make them pothole-less,” Reddy said, talking to reporters. He added that there are proposals to repair 8,161 km of district roads and 3,340 km of state highways.
Already, proposals worth Rs 284 crore have been received, he said.
According to the minister, the YSRCP government between 2019 and 2024 earmarked a budget of Rs 19,428 crore for the R&B Department but expended only 46 per cent or Rs 9,015 crore of those funds.
Alleging that bills worth up to Rs 2,261 crore were not paid to contractors, he said that this had left contractors disinterested and reluctant to take up works.
According to Reddy, the state has a road network of 8,164 km of national highways, 12,653 km state highways, 27,062 km main district roadways and 5,663 km village roadways, all of which add up to 53,542 km of roads.
Out of the 53,542 km, he said 45,378 km length of roads fall under the purview of the state government.
Janardhan Reddy alleged that the YSRCP government failed to allocate sufficient funds for roads in the past five years, requiring special repairs for 22,007 km of roadways.
