Airport Metro to adversely affect structural stablity of several flyovers

Hyderabad: The 26-km Phase-11 Metro Rail project alignment from BHEL to Lakdikapul is likely to have an adverse impact on the P.V. Narasimha Rao Expressway, as well as the structural stability of all flyovers on its path, including at the Biodiversity junction and at Tolichowki.

If the alignment is tweaked, it could cost the government around `5,000 crore more, including for land acquisition.

Also on its path is a skyway built by the GHMC at Shilpa Layout, a six-lane two-way flyover from Kondapur to the ORR, which will be inaugurated soon, and the Rs 203-crore Gachibowli Junction-Shilpa Layout flyover which was recently inaugurated, as well as a flyover from Rethibowli junction to Nanalnagar, on which work will begin shortly, as well as an underpass at Nanalnagar.

The surprise came in the form of HMRL approaching GHMC corporation with a Phase-II detailed project report (DPR) stating that flyover construction was obstructing the Metro Rail alignment. The HMRL official requested that the GHMC change the proposal of all skyways and underpasses that would interfere with the Metro Rail alignment.

Under Phase II, the HMRL has proposed other routes from the BHEL-Lakdikapul corridor to Shamshabad airport via Kondapur, Gachibowli, Shaikpet, Tolichowki, Mehdipatnam and Raidurg, which is now known as the Airport Express Metro project.

A senior GHMC official requesting anonymity stated that the Metro Rail alignments would have a negative impact on the SRDP, which has taken shape after overcoming financial and land acquisition obstacles. He claimed that the proposed alignment would not only damage five skyways and an underpass from Mehdipatanam to Hitec City, but would also harm the Tolichowki flyover, which had been in use for a long time.