Hyderabad: Poor infrastructure in the eastern part of the city will weigh down the Look East policy that government is drafting. Government is offering incentives on electricity tariff, rent and Metro Rail passes besides land rights. But poor roads, lack of greenery, lack of star hotels, conventional halls and night life are dampening interest. Bad roads on the Warangal highway, poor sanitation and lack of basic civic amenities have ensured that the proposal is in the cold storage.
According to highly-placed sources in the information technology department, the draft proposal has been divided into four components — developer benefits, unit benefits, anchor and infrastructure development. Government has put the vital infrastructure development component at the bottom of the list.
Sources said that without developing infrastructure, government cannot expect international or domestic players to invest, shift or expand their offices to a poorly developed area about 30 km from Gachibowli and Madhapur. They said that the road from Uppal to the toll plaza on the Warangal highway is badly damaged. Sanitation is in poor shape. A source said that investors will not consider moving to the eastern part unless these issues are addressed.
Sources said that government should first develop infrastructure apart from facilities like a star hotel and convention halls, eateries and fine dining restaurants and night life facilities if employees from across the country are to be recruited. Until these issues are addressed, the Look East policy will not attract investors, despite having about 400 acres of government land.
IT department principal secretary Jayesh Ranjan said that once industries start moving to the east, social infrastructure will improve.
He said that Gachibowli was a small village when IT companies started locating themselves there and is now one of the finest IT destinations in the country.
Mr Ranjan said that poor infrastructure will not be an issue. National highways engineer-in-chief Ganapathi Reddy said that due to ongoing work on the Uppal-Ghatkesar elevated corridor, the department can only take up need-based maintenance until its completion next year.
