New Delhi [India], November 24 (ANI): Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the widening of existing two-lane road to two-lane with paved shoulders for Hyderabad-Bhupalapatnam section of NH-163 in Mulugu district, Telangana, has been approved at the total cost of Rs 136.22 crore.

In a series of posts, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari tweeted about the widening of the NH-163 on the Hyderabad-Bhupalapatnam stretch.

He said the project stretch connects major tourist places namely Laknavaram lake and Bogotha Waterfalls. The development of this stretch will improve the interstate connectivity between Telangana and Chhattisgarh. The Minister said Mulugu district is a Left-wing extremism (LWE)-affected district and the development of this stretch would help the government to have control over LWE activities.

Gadkari said rehabilitation and upgradation to 2/4 lane with paved shoulders on NH-167K including the approaches of Iconic Bridge across river Krishna in Nagarkurnool district in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has been approved at the total cost of Rs 436.91 crore on engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) mode. The Minister said the NH-167K would reduce the distance between Hyderabad/Kalwakurthy and important destinations like Tirupati, Nandyala/Chennai by about 80 km as the traffic currently following NH-44 will take to NH-167K after completion. He said Nandyala is an important trading centre for agricultural and forest products as it is nearer to Nallamala forest. The sanctioned Iconic Bridge at Kollapur would be the gateway for both the states and help promote tourism, he added.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on last Friday inaugurated two national highway projects worth Rs 1,082 crore at Raiganj, West Bengal, said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in a statement.

Gadkari said fulfilling the 60-year-old demand of the people of Dalkhola (NH-34), this 5 km and 4-lane bypass built at the total cost of Rs 120 crore, will finally solve the traffic problem in Dalkhola town now, added the press release. (ANI)