The Nandyal-Giddalur-Thokapalli Project Road is 132 km long and runs between State Highways 53 and 54, linking the towns of Nandyal, Giddalur, Markapur and Thokapalli (Figure 1). A 108km-long section of this road is proposed to be widened from an existing 5m to a 7m carriageway width, with a further 1.25m soft shoulder on each side. The remaining 24km stretch (chainage 151/0 to 175/0), which falls within the reserve forests, will only be strengthened within the existing 5.5 to 6.5m-wide pavement, for its entire length. The strengthening of the existing pavement involves the placement of an overlay consisting of 5cm-thick bituminous macadam and a 4 cm-thick asphaltic concrete. All activities related to the strengthening of the road section running through the forest lands will remain confined to within the existing roadway width ranging from 8 to 10m. All preparatory work, such as asphalt mixing and aggregate extraction, will be done outside the 24km forested section. The NGT road was built during the British colonial period and has been in use ever since, thus has been a well established geographic feature of the reserve forest areas for the past half century or more.

No land would be acquired in the forested section of this road, while in the non-forest section, 2.4ha of additional land in areas that are currently in agricultural production will be needed. As per the details provided by the project authorities, there are 3 major and 16 minor bridges along the project road, all of which are in good condition. A few minor bridges in the hilly (Ghat) section are old brick arch bridges and need to be replaced by reinforced concrete slab bridges. There are 14 cut stone slab culverts, of which a few need to be replaced. One causeway with reinforced concrete slab needs to be reconstructed as a minor bridge or culvert.

• Environmental Issues Associated with the NGT Road
   

• Resettlement Issues Associated with the NGT Road
   

• The Techno-Economic Feasibility Study
   

• Recommended Improvements