On earlier occasions, Naidu has been taken to task by his adversaries from Congress, TRS and other political parties for making ‘tall claims’ about his contribution towards the development of the then united Andhra Pradesh. The same leaders have backtracked and endorsed his reforms and contribution in placing Hyderabad city on the world’s IT map. He has played a major role in enhancing the socio-economic conditions across the State, especially in the Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy region which witnessed major development during his reign as Chief Minister. Building of roads has been one of the instruments with which he had ushered in development. Naidu dreamed to replicate that as Chief Minister of bifurcated Andhra Pradesh between 2014-19, only to be sidelined after the sweeping victory of YS Jagan.
A lot of water has flown under the bridge since. One dream of Naidu for Andhra Pradesh might be realized in the next couple of years.
Earlier when he was the Chief Minister, Naidu had proposed several road infrastructure development projects to boost economic activity in the State after the bifurcation. The TDP chief termed his road connectivity development proposal as ‘node connectivity’ – connecting Visakhapatnam–Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) and the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor Project (CBIC).
On similar lines and with a few modifications, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is proposing express highways in Andhra Pradesh. All these projects have completion deadlines set between March 2024 and March 2025.
The newly proposed NHAI projects are:
• 464-kilometres long highway between Raipur-Visakhapatnam which is proposed to be completed by March 2024
• 125-km express highway connecting Chittoor to Thatcher via Nagari to be completed by March 2024
• Solapur – Kurnool (318 km), Hyderabad – Visakhapatnam (713 km), Nagpur -Vijayawada (457 km) express highways to be completed by March 2025
The objective of the newly proposed highways is to reduce the travel time and enable faster transportation of goods which will lead to monetary gains in the long run. Only time will tell if the Centre will execute these projects in a time-bound manner and turn Naidu’s dream into reality.