According to official sources, the current scale of funding for Andhra surpasses even the allocations made during the bifurcation years.
Published Nov 24, 2025 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 24, 2025 | 7:00 AM
Record allocations have been made for Andhra Pradesh since the TDP-led NDA came to power in the state in 2024. Credit: iStock, x.com/JaiTDP
Synopsis: Andhra Pradesh’s roads, battered by neglect and cyclones, remain riddled with potholes. CM Chandrababu Naidu has set a 31 December 2025 deadline for a pothole-free state, launching “Mission Pothole-Free Andhra Pradesh”. Record Rs 2,500 crore sanctioned, Rs 1,900 crore pending bills cleared, advanced materials mandated, and daily monitoring ordered to repair over 5,400 km before year-end.
Andhra Pradesh’s vast road network — a perennial pain point for the state administration — continues to be in severe disrepair.
Across districts, highways have caved in, rural link roads have turned into cratered stretches, and urban arteries remain scarred by potholes that pose grave risks to motorists.
Years of poor maintenance, monsoon battering and administrative paralysis have left Andhra grappling with a road crisis that citizens repeatedly flag as one of their biggest concerns.
The damage has been especially pronounced over the last five years. Officials admit that prolonged neglect under the previous YSRCP government, coupled with successive cyclones, pushed the system to the brink. The cyclones alone have ripped apart nearly 4,800 km of roads, leaving many stretches unusable and triggering a backlog of repairs running into thousands of crores.
It is against this backdrop of crumbling infrastructure that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu issued a directive that every road in the state must be made pothole-free by December 31, 2025 — a deadline that officials say effectively gives them just over five weeks to show major progress.
Chairing a high-level teleconference with Roads & Buildings (R&B) Minister BC Janardhan Reddy, Special Chief Secretary MT Krishna Babu and senior department officials, Naidu made it clear they should get cracking.
He asked the Minister and the Special Chief Secretary to personally inspect road works across districts and warned the contractors who have failed to begin awarded works will face immediate action. He said there would be no compromise on quality, all works must adhere to the highest engineering standards.
He also ordered that advanced technology and new-generation materials should be adopted to ensure durability. He said: “By December 31, not a single pothole should remain anywhere in the state.”
Record allocations have been made since the TDP-led NDA came to power in the state in 2024. The government claims that it has unlocked an unprecedented amount of funds for road development and repair — the highest in 18 months in the history and yet the roads remain resembling lunar surface,
According to official data, the government has already sanctioned Rs 2,500 crore for repairs and construction covering 5,471 km of roads across the state.
Rs 400 crore (NABARD) – 1,250 km (191 works) – tenders awarded
Rs 600 crore (capital infusion) – 1,450 km (227 works)
Rs 1,000 crore – 2,104 km (274 works) – tenders floated, contractors to be finalised in the first week of December
Rs 277 crore – 607 km of previously cancelled works – sanctions due in 2–3 days
Rs 233 crore – financial clearances completed
Besides, the government has proposals for Rs 500 crore emergency repairs covering another 9,101 km, with priority for cyclone-damaged stretches. According to official sources, the current scale of funding surpasses even the allocations made during the bifurcation years, when significant central support was available.
One of the biggest bottlenecks the new government faced after assuming office in June 2024 was a staggering pile-up of unpaid contractor bills. R&B officials told CM that nearly Rs 4,000 crore worth of bills — some pending for over two years — had created deep mistrust among contractors and stalled ongoing works.
Since then, the government has cleared Rs 1,900 crore and is releasing the remaining amount in monthly instalments to restore financial confidence and ensure mobilisation of contractors for the December deadline.
The R&B Minister and the Special Chief Secretary have also held multiple meetings with contractors in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Puttaparthi in an effort to accelerate the pace of execution.
State government has now branded the effort as “Mission Pothole-Free Andhra Pradesh”, under which district-wise targets, inspection schedules and audit mechanisms are being finalised. Officials will be required to submit daily progress reports, while quality-control teams will conduct surprise inspections to ensure adherence to standards.
Departments have been instructed to complete all pending works “next week itself” and move quickly to black-topping, patch-work and strengthening activities before the year-end deadline.
Naidu, who has been reviewing infrastructure restoration on a weekly basis, reportedly told his team: “People deserve good roads. We have given road development the highest priority and allocated record funds. Now there is no scope for excuses.”
The urgency also stems from public pressure. In numerous reviews and ground visits, the government reportedly received complaints about poor roads, especially in rural belts where farmers struggle to transport produce and emergency services face delays.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
