State's poor roads due to TDP govt's negligence: Jagan

Refuting allegations that the roads in the state were damaged due to the negligence of the YSRCP-led state government, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday said the negligence of the previous state government and heavy rains in the past two years was responsible for the condition of the roads across the state.

During a review meeting held at the camp office here on Monday, Jagan said the state government has sanctioned Rs. 2,205 crore in a year for the construction and maintenance of roads. This has never happened before in the history of the state, he added. The officials informed the Chief Minister that the construction and repair of roads will be completed by the end of May and added that the construction of 33 road overbridges (ROBs) has been pending for a long time. Jagan said fake news claiming that those ROBs were pending during the current government's rule is doing the rounds. He added that the state government has been spending Rs. 571.3 crore to complete these works.

The officials also informed the Chief Minister that tenders for 83% of the road works have been completed and 100% of tenders will be completed by the end of February.

The Chief Minister was briefed on the steps being taken for the construction of the beach corridor road from Visakhapatnam port to Bhimili-Bhogapuram. Regarding this, the CM instructed the officials to focus on road designs and said the beach corridor should be the best in the world and added that it should decrease travel time between Visakhapatnam and Bhogapuram airport.

"The beach corridor project needs to be given the highest priority as tourism projects will come up near the beach corridor road. Also, there are many restrictions on civil flights in the current airport and even night landing of flights is getting difficult due to Navy restrictions," the CM added.