Hyderabad: Despite new homes coming up in Hitec City, the inner roads are as bad as they were decades ago. Many apartments do not have proper approach roads and only the main roads are ‘beautified’ over and over again. Several internal roads in the IT Corridor, including in Gachibowli, Kondapur, Hitec City, Madhapur, Miyapur, continue to be narrow. Although land prices have shot up, Cyberabad is infested with the old problem of poor roads and lack of urban planning. Some streets are not even two-lane, allowing just one vehicle to squeeze past at a time. Several apartments do not have proper approach roads.
There is no hierarchy of roads in the IT Corridor. Prof K Laxman Rao of JNTU said, “For one square kilometre we need 10-12 kilometres of road. But there is no hierarchy of roads, like arterial road connecting with sub arterial or sub arterial connecting with local space.” Prof Rao added “For a local street we construct only one-floor buildings. But in Hitec city area every road has buildings of three to four floors, so the capacity of the road right of way is not proportionate to the neighbourhood land. Because of this, there will be problems with the drainage and storm water systems and parking. This is why the road looks improper because the land use is not proportionate to the road right of way.”
As a result, the posh places continue to be Gachibowli village as there is no urban planning despite being developed in the last couple of decades. Many extended roads are merely dirt tracks, some with open drains. Roads have been ignored as there is no attention to planning. Karuna Gopal of Futuristic Cities said, “Hitec city is just a name. There is vision only for the development of business but there is no vision for matching infrastructure because of which there are all narrow roads.”
