Telangana's ambitious SRDP a flop, GHMC blames government

Hyderabad: Over the past four years, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has only managed to complete works worth Rs 400 crore under the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP), state government’s flagship development program, which has an estimated budget of Rs 24,000 crore. 

Officials say that in the absence of financial assistance from the state government, the project unlikely to be completed before the 2030. Meanwhile, the GHMC is trying to raise funds through Rupee Term Loans (RTLs) and municipal bonds. 

In February, the civic body raised Rs 200 crore, at 8.9 per cent interest rate, as the first tranche of funds required for the SRDP. The funds were part of the Rs 1,000 crore aimed to be raised by the corporation from the bond market.

The GHMC plans to raise another Rs 2,500 crore in the form RTLs and Rs 800 crore in municipal bonds. In the past, whenever the corporation has faced a severe financial crisis, it has raised municipal bonds, but not RTLs. However, the current financial situation has forced it to opt for RTLs. 

Highly-placed sources in the GHMC say that the corporation has spent Rs 400 crore over the past four years — Rs 340 crore from its own funds and Rs 60 crore raised in the form of municipal bonds. Funds raised through loans and bonds will help the corporation complete about 10 percent of the total SRDP work. But if work progresses at its current pace, it will be another 20 years before the project is completed. Sources say that the corporation does not have the financial capacity to bear the burden of the SRDP. 

A senior GHMC official, on condition of anonymity, said that works worth Rs 3,200 crore had been grounded, but the civic body had only spent Rs 400 crore. He said that the GHMC had made a commitment to the state government that the SRDP would be completed by 2024, but that was impossible in the absence of financial assistance.

The official said that the underpass at Ayyappa Society was complete and works at Mind Space and LB Nagar Junction were proceeding at a brisk pace. He added that the construction of the cable bridge at Durgham Cheruvu was also progressing at a satisfactory pace. 

He said that funds raised in the form of bonds and loans would be sufficient for the completion of three to four flyovers. He added that works worth Rs 2,500 crore were pending because of the financial crunch.