Hyderabad, Dec 21 (IANS): Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said that there has been a phenomenal growth of 55.71 per cent in the length of national highways in Telangana during the last six years.

Nearly 1,400 kms length has been added during this period, he said while inaugurating six national highway projects. He also laid foundation stone for another eight projects in Telangana.

The estimated cost of these 14 works with a total length of 765.663 km is Rs 13,169 crore.

The event held by virtual mode was also attended by Union Ministers G. Kishan Reddy and V.K. Singh, Telangana's Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy and Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.

Gadkari said that that a total of 59 road works with approved length of 1,918 km and a cost of Rs 17,617 crore have been sanctioned in Telangana in the last six years. Of this, 1,782 km length has already been done at a cost of 15,689 crore.

He revealed that almost all of the 33 districts in the state now have connectivity with national highways. The remaining district Peddapally will also be connected to the network soon.

He said under Central Road Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) scheme, Rs 2,436 crore were sanctioned till now for Telangana and of this Rs 1,483 crore were already released.

Construction of 841 km roads worth Rs 4,793 crore has been completed since 2014-15 while work is going on for construction of another 809 kms at a cost of Rs 13,012 crore.

He said during the current financial year, 13 major projects costing Rs 8,957 crore and of 328 km length are proposed to be awarded in the state. Three major projects for 192 km worth Rs 2,339 crore are under bidding, he added.

Another 21 national works with total length of 1422 km and total cost of Rs 27,116 crore are under various stages of DPR preparation. These works are likely to be completed by 2024-25.

Projects with length 1,730 kms have been identified for development under Bharatmala Pariyojana in Telangana. Out of these 14 projects, 9 projects with length 423 km have already been awarded at a cost of Rs 7,400 crore.

Development of greenfield and access-controlled corridor has also been planned in Telangana to ease-out traffic on existing corridors, reduce travel time and costs and also provide a boost to the economy. These include Surat, Ahmadnagar, Solapur, Kurnool, Chennai (75 km length in Telangana), Suryapet - Khammam - Devarapalle (164 km length in Telangana) and Indore-Hyderabad (136 km length in Telangana).