Officials going against governments aspiration

HYDERABAD: While the state government pushed officials in multiple rounds of review meetings to speed the construction of 10 skyways and underpasses, they expressed their incapability to complete all but the steel bridge project at Indira Park.

Minister K.T. Rama Rao has been informed by officials that the GHMC will be able to complete one of the 10 skyways, the one at Bairamalguda. Authorities also stated that if the outstanding bills were cleared on time, they might be able to meet the target.

To help reduce traffic congestion in Hyderabad, the government took up construction of 42 flyovers, underpasses and road overbridges (RoBs) under the Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP). Of them, 32 have been completed, and the government pledged during the Budget Session of the Assembly to complete the remaining works by the end of the year.  

A senior GHMC official said the nine projects that will not meet the deadline are the steel bridges at Nalgonda crossroads, a six-lane grade separator (flyover) from Aramghar to Zoo Park, an underpass each at Falaknuma and Shastripuram, a level two flyover at Shilpa Layout, skyway at KBR Park, the flyovers at Uppal junction and Bairamulguda.

The official said 13,000 tonnes of steel were needed to build the bridge at Nalgonda crossroads, and that the steel supplier, Jindal, had requested payment in advance.

According to the official, the corporation has not begun the land acquisition process for the Shilpa Layout skyway. For the skyway at KBR junction, authorities are awaiting the agency's report on the feasibility of constructing a tunnel. For the remaining skyway projects, contractors have been demanding payment of bills to expedite construction.

"Bills totalling Rs 200 crore are pending for three skyway projects," the official informed. He stated that approval from the railways department was required for underpasses at Falaknuma and Shastripuram. "Higher authorities, including the MAUD minister, have asked us to expedite the SRDP projects in order to showcase them for the general elections," the official stated.