Nagpur–Vijayawada greenfield highway on track for December 2027 finish

The 310-km Nagpur–Mancherial–Warangal–Khammam–Vijayawada greenfield highway is expected to be ready by December 31, 2027, Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy told the Telangana Legislative Council on Saturday.

Replying to questions from MLCs Pochampally Srinivas Reddy and M. Kodandaram, the Minister said the State government would move to provide an exit on the highway near Parkal for the convenience of residents, and that instructions would be issued to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials at once.

Nearly 280 km of the corridor falls within Telangana, making it a key connectivity project that will link several districts and ease travel from the State towards both Nagpur and Vijayawada, he said.

The Mancherial–Warangal stretch has been split into packages and awarded. Letters of Award were issued on March 31, 2023, with agreements following on May 23. Work was originally meant to be completed in 730 days, but land acquisition problems, court cases and other factors pushed back the schedule.

Almost all land acquisition issues have now been settled, the Minister said, with only minor matters over small stretches left to be closed. Handover of land is pending at one or two locations — roughly 1 to 1.30 km in one place and 5.7 km in another package — and the State will coordinate with NHAI to resolve these quickly.

Given the delay, the contractor has been granted an extension of time, and the revised completion target has been fixed at December 31, 2027.

Responding to Mr. Kodandaram's concerns over land acquisition, Mr. Venkat Reddy said the government had taken the issues into account and assured that farmers would not face any injustice, with compensation paid at market rates.

Land acquisition is the State government's responsibility, while construction is being carried out entirely by NHAI, he added. He also referred to a review of the project by Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on May 26, noting that the latter had stressed the highway's importance for Telangana, particularly for connectivity to Nagpur.