AP gets 318-km Kurnool-Solapur expressway project

Andhra Pradesh is all set to get a 318-km long expressway directly connecting Kurnool in AP with Solapur in Maharashtra. The National Highways Authority of India will develop the project, which will also connect the Chennai-Solapur economic corridor under the Union government’s flagship Bharatmala project. The mega expressway will run through AP, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra and is destined to be commissioned by 2025. Once it is connected with the Chennai economic corridor, the connectivity to industrial areas in south India to the western part of the country will improve substantially. The distance between Kurnool and Solapur will be reduced by about 100 km once the expressway becomes operational. Currently, to go to Solapur from Kurnool one has to travel through Nalgonda and Hyderabad but after the completion of the expressway, vehicles can go through Mahbubnagar and Kosgi in Telangana and Raichur in Karnataka to reach Solapur. It was listed in the 23 priority projects taken up by the NHAI across the country under the Bharatmala and the road-building agency has invited tenders for the preparation of a detailed project report. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2025.