1 Jubilee Hills land holds key to SRDP

Hyderabad: The delay in acquisition of one property has slowed down the completion of a vital link in the Strategic Road Development Plan in Jubilee Hills. If it is not resolved in the near future, lakhs of motorists could stuck in massive traffic gridlocks.

The property stands on the stretch between Jubilee Hills Road No. 45 and Durgam Cheruvu cable-stayed bridge, where a four-lane elevated corridor is coming up

As many as 20 of 21 properties on the stretch have been acquired, with the owners agreeing to take Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), which they can sell for a profit. The owner who has been holding out has asked for compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act 2013.

Work on the bridge is proceeding at a brisk pace. Engineers on the project said 80 per cent of the work had been completed, and the rest will be completed within a couple of months.

When the bridge is inaugurated and the traffic begins moving on the road, the property that has not acquired will become a bigger bottleneck as vehicles moving swiftly on the new road will jam at the spot as the flyover will be incomplete.

The bottleneck on Road No. 45 could affect the roads from Jubilee Hills to Madhapur, thereby slowing traffic in the entire IT corridor.

It is estimated that 2.4 lakh vehicles travel on the stretch, and any slowing down anywhere will cause a massive stretch of bumper-to bumper traffic.

Asked how long the process of acquiring the property would last, chief city planner S. Devender Reddy said that the process of providing compensation under the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 takes at least nine months.

Mr Reddy said that in order to speed up the project, GHMC commissioner D.S. Lokesh Kumar had asked the town planning wing to complete the land acquisition within three months. He said that the corporation had been negotiating with the property owner to accept the TDR which would be beneficial. If the owner refuses, the Land Acquisition Act will invoked in the public interest.

Asked how the corporation would deal with a delay in acquiring the property, chief engineer (projects) R. Sridhar said that the corporation would request the government not inaugurate the cable-stayed bridge until the completion of the elevated corridor by explaining the cascading effect it would have on the project.

He said that once the land acquisition process is complete, the projects wings will ensure both the stable-stayed bridge and flyover at Jubilee Hills are completed quickly.