If all goes well as per the plans of stakeholders, including Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA), Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the Semilunar-shaped Ring Road (SRR) will be laid in Visakhapatnam to meet the needs of the growing population.
As per the tentative plans, the SRR will start at Pudimadaka Beach in Anakapalli district in the southern part of the city and end at Bhogapuram Beach in Vizianagaram district.
This will be another proposed major transport infrastructure for the people of the region after the yet-to-be-started Vizag Metro Rail project connecting Anakapalli to Bhogapuram via Gajuwaka, Akkayapalem, Maddilapalem, Madhurawada and Anandapuram on the old highway road.
Since on the eastern side, Visakhapatnam geographically has the Bay of Bengal sea, the ring road is called as SRR.
The proposal is currently progressing to the next stage as a Detailed Project Report (DPR) is being prepared. An internal meeting will be held soon with the officials of the departments concerned for this purpose. Tourism, roads & buildings, police, industries, fisheries and revenue departments will also be added to take this project forward.
‘Connecting road’
Confirming this SRR project proposal, GVMC Commissioner C.M. Saikanth Varma said that this road is not a greenfield project. It is a connecting road to the existing six-lane National Highway-16 from Anakapalli to Bhogapuram via Pendurthi and Anandapuram.
“What we are planning at this initial level is to build a six-lane road connecting the highway at the southern and northern points. That is, there will be a connecting road from Pudimadaka to Anakapalli via Achyutapuram in the south and a connecting road from Bhogapuram beach to the highway in Bhogapuram via Greenfield Airport. The Bhogapuram beach point will be re-connected to the Vizag-Bheemili-Bhogapuram beach corridor. The proposal was recently discussed in the presence of Chief Secretary K.S. Jawahar Reddy. He has given us a go ahead with a detailed project report first,” Mr. Saikanth Varma told The Hindu.
VMRDA sources said the SRR is much needed by the city in the backdrop of the proposed Executive Capital status to Visakhapatnam.
This SRR will also serve the VMRDA for further infrastructural development on the outer parts of the city.
A VMRDA official said this is a beach-to-beach road project without touching the existing core city of Visakhapatnam.
“The length of SRR will be around 100 kms. But, almost 70% of the road will be covered by highway stretch. So, this project will not require much funds. We hope that this project will definitely be grounded. In the next scheduled meeting on urban development before general elections, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will hopefully review this project,” a VMRDA official told The Hindu.