Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Blasting works on ghat road to conclude soon

VIJAYAWADA: Assuring the devotees of goddess Kanakadurga that the first phase of developmental works pertaining to the temple on Indrakeeladri would be completed before the 2009 Dasara festival, Endowments Commissioner P. Sundara Kumar on Saturday said that the department had allocated Rs. 100 crores for the first phase works and another Rs. 50 crores for the second phase works, which would be completed by 2010.

Mr. Kumar earlier participated in a meeting to review the progress of works, which was chaired by Principal Secretary (Revenue) G. Sudhir.

Mr. Kumar said as many as 45 issues were discussed in the meeting and most of them were approved instantly. Blasting works on ghat road would be completed within 10 days and the road would be opened for pedestrians by next month.

“Tenders have already been finalised for the construction of two bridges connecting Durga Ghat and Indrakeeladri, which will be built at a cost of Rs. 5 crore,” he said. Besides the bridges, widening of ghat road and gold plating works would be completed by this Dasara.

The works in the first phase include construction of a Rajagopuram on the eastern side, a ramp adjacent to the Rajagopuram, widening of Arjuna Veedhi, construction of 22 suites for pilgrims at Jammidoddi and a five-storey building with 350 suites at C.V. Reddy charities.

The second phase includes construction of a 10-storey building at Kanakadurga Nagar in Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) mode with a facility to park 400 cars at any point of time and construction of a queue complex with a capacity of 50,000 people. Maintaining that there was no dearth of funds,

Mr. Kumar said taking up some projects in BOT method was only to ensure certain standards in the construction. Temple Executive Officer T. Chandra Kumarand others were present.

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