Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has requested Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari to give speedy clearance to the Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada metro rail projects, while promising to do what all is required from the State for the smooth implementation of the highway projects.

The State government would ensure that land acquisition issues did not hamper the road projects that were crucial for development, Mr. Naidu told Mr. Gadkari, while thanking him for sanctioning eight road projects, including a greenfield highway between Hyderabad and Vijayawada, the total cost of which was about ₹27,000 crore.

Addressing a meeting where Mr. Gadkari virtually laid foundation for 27 road projects and inaugurated two projects on Saturday, Mr. Naidu said he was happy that the Union Minister agreed to recommend the sanction of an Outer Ring Road (ORR) around Amaravati.

He suggested that a bullet train linking Amaravati with Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru would connect the huge population in those States.

Mr. Naidu said road projects costing more than ₹70,000 crore were in various stages of execution in Andhra Pradesh, and emphasis had been laid on the construction of sea and airports in order to provide the best logistics facilities.