Centre clears Andhra Pradesh route for Kharagpur-Amaravati high-speed road corridor

The central government has approved the 457-kilometre alignment within Andhra Pradesh for a Kharagpur to Amaravati High-Speed Road Corridor connecting West Bengal to the state’s capital region, officials said.

The Alignment Approval Committee of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) cleared the specific route, which connects Kharagpur in West Bengal directly to the Amaravati Outer Ring Road near Agiripalli.

The new greenfield expressway will span 1,107 kilometres and run through West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, aiming to establish a massive multi-state transit network. Officials said the Andhra Pradesh portion of the road project would be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 32,000 crore.

Across all four participating states, the total project cost is projected at Rs 75,629 crore. The comprehensive budget includes Rs 55,772 crore dedicated to civil engineering works and Rs 8,982 crore for extensive land acquisition and resident rehabilitation programs, with the complete financial sanction expected by March 2027.

The high-speed highway is designed to link remote tribal areas, the Godavari districts and Amaravati with an efficient road network. In Andhra Pradesh, the approved alignment runs through Parvathipuram, Manyam, Alluri Seetharamaraju, Polavaram, East Godavari and Eluru districts, connecting several towns including Kurupam, Saluru, Makkuva, Araku, Paderu, Chintapalli, Gokavaram, Kannapuram, Jangareddygudem, Lakkavaram, Devarapalli, Kamavarapukot, Dwaraka Tirumala and Nujiveedu.

Officials said the land acquisition process within the respective districts had already been started, with a Joint Collector or a Deputy Collector in each area to serve as the dedicated Land Acquisition Officer. The formal gazette notification will be released once selections for all the districts are sent to the Centre later this week. Developing the corridor requires acquiring a total of 10,630 hectares of land, including 2,371 hectares of classified forest terrain, per officials.

The highway will feature a right-of-way width of 90 metres, structurally optimised to permit heavy vehicle travel at sustained speeds ranging between 100 and 120 kilometres per hour.