The State governments ambitious plans to connect the capital city, Amaravati, with the Rayalaseema districts through the Amaravati-Anantapur Expressway seem to be going ahead on a positive note with the Central government agreeing to share the land acquisition cost.

The Centre would share the land acquisition cost, which is estimated to be around ₹2,500 crore.

The Centre had initially backtracked and pushed the land acquisition ball into the State government’s court. It had made it clear that it would not spare funds for land acquisition. But now, the land acquisition cost would be shared equally by both the State and Central governments, sources say.

The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the two packages of the expressway would be ready by December this year, and for the remaining six packages by March/June next year.

When contacted, Special Chief Secretary (R&B) Neerab Kumar Prasad said that at a recent meeting, the Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), had approved the shortest straight line alignment of the 384-km stretch of road from Anantapur to Amaravati.

Width reduced

The project was expected to cost ₹14,000 crore to ₹20,000 crore. Land acquisition alone would be around ₹2,500 crore. The government would have to acquire 5,133 hecatres, excluding the forest, for the expressway that would pass through Guntur, Prakasam, and Kurnool districts.

“The LA cost will be borne by the State and Central governments.”

Against the original proposal of 200-metre right of way (RoW), the width has been trimmed to 100 metre. The reduction of the road width will not only bring down the burden on the exchequer but also ease tensions at the field level. The expressway would pass through the forest stretch for up to 31 km. Of this, close to 9 km would be in the reserve forest and about 23 km in the eco-sensitive zone. Permissions with regard to the eco-sensitive zone is awaited from the Forest Department.

Unique feature

The expressway is considered to be the first and longest expressway in the country to have been designed without curves and turns throughout.