Union Home Ministry asks MoRTH to expedite approvals for northern part of RRR

Union Home Ministry urges MoRTH to expedite approvals for Regional Ring Road, discuss upgradation of State roads.

The Union Home Ministry has asked the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to expedite approvals for the northern part of the prestigious Regional Ring Road (RRR).

Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan wanted the MoRTH to speed up preparation of detailed project report for the southern part of the RRR. He made the remarks during a meeting convened with senior State government officials to review the progress of educational institutions/infrastructure projects in the State listed in the XIII Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

The instructions came when the Telangana government informed that RRR around Hyderabad was initially agreed upon by the Centre in 2016 under the Bharatmala scheme. The project was however delayed because of change in the policy of MoRTH subsequently. The Centre gave its sanction for only the northern part and not for the southern part of the RRR.

The State government started land acquisition process for the northern part and 94% of the land is at award stage. “However, approval and release of funds for the acquisition of land for the southern region of the ring road is yet to be sanctioned,” the Telangana representative complained. Responding to this, NHAI senior officials said that Bharatmala scheme was stopped last year, but the RRR project was included in the award plan of the NHAI for the current year. A proposal was being submitted for the approval of the Union Cabinet for the northern part of the RRR while a separate detailed project report was required to be prepared and approved for the southern part.

Upgradation of roads

The meeting also discussed about the State’s request for upgradation of 16 State roads as national highways. The State made the request asserting that they are very important for connecting the district headquarters, industrial corridors, tourism & pilgrim centres, neighbouring States and places of economic importance.

The MoRTH informed that the length of the national highways at the time of formation of the State was 2,511 km and this has been increased to 4,996 km, registering 99% increase. The length of the national highways in the rural areas was 1,455 km of which, 172 km was in construction stage and bidding process was on for another 210 km. However, since the Bharatmala project was stopped last year, separate approvals from the Union Cabinet were required for each new project.