The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has commenced work on the construction of the Vijayawada-Nagpur Express Highway.
The express highway will connect Vidarbha in Maharashtra with the aim of further bolster the transportation of industrial and agricultural products.
The nodal agency has approved a plan to build a total of 457 km of roads at an investment of Rs 14,000 crore. The feasibility report and DPRs have already been finalised.
The Vijayawada-Nagpur expressway will be constructed under five packages. Among them, Vijayawada-Khammam, Khammam-Warangal, Warangal-Manchiryala packages will be constructed as greenfield expressway, while Manchiryala-Repallewada, Repallewada-Chandrapur packages will be developed as brownfield expressway.
This road connects Chandrapur to Nagpur with the existing four-lane express highway. A total of 310 km of greenfield and 147 km of brownfield express highway are being developed.
The new express highway will be constructed from Vijayawada via Khammam, Warangal and Mancherial. This will reduce the distance between Vijayawada and Nagpur by 163 km and takes about five hours.
The Revenue Department is preparing for the acquisition of about 1.65 lakh sq mtr of land in Vijayawada Rural, G Kondur and Gampalagudem mandals. The nodal agency aims to complete the tender process by December 2022 and construction of expressway by 2025.