Hyderabad: Lack of coordination among different departments seems to be stalling the construction of a flyover meant for easing traffic at the uphill suburbs of Hyderabad inordinately.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has locked horns with the forest department over the completion of three-km-long multi-level flyover or grade separator at the Botanical Garden (Kothaguda) and Kondapur Junction. The corporation should erect two electrical poles in the Botanical Garden, for which the permission was delayed since August last year. The corporation, despite multiple attempts, could not get permission for the project, while forest officials claimed it was in the due process.
According to officials, utility shifting and delay in land acquisition has delayed the project for more than two-and0-a-half years. The corporation authorities have been asked to shift utilities where it requires one acre of forest land near the Botanical Garden.
The Transco authorities made it clear to the GHMC that the utility shifting would be done only after acquiring the land. Though the corporation authorities have conveyed the same to the forest department, the process of land acquisition has not moved an inch for the past two years. Citing the lukewarm response, the corporation authorities brought it to the notice of principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), who in turn said handing over the forest land to any nodal agency was no small job and it was in due process.
Traffic snarls at three important junctions in the IT corridor would become history once construction of the much-awaited multi-level unidirectional flyover at Botanical Garden, crossing Kothaguda and Kondapur Junctions.
As part of this project, the four-lane road will become a five-lane flyover (18 metres) at Botanical Garden Junction with an addition of one two-lane up ramp. Then, it will be split into a three-lane straight flyover up to the RTA office in Kondapur. An underpass of 470 metres will come up at Kothaguda for the traffic coming from Hafeezpet towards Gachibowli.
This multi-level flyover will ease traffic congestion towards Gachibowli and Hitec City. Botanical Garden, Kothaguda and Kondapur junctions are T-intersections with less spacing between junctions. The existing road has a built-up area on either side with commercial complexes. Once the project is complete, the Botanical Garden and Kothaguda Junction will provide a 100 per cent traffic solution.
A senior GHMC official requesting anonymity said the progress of the project was hit due to lack of coordination between Transco and the forest department. He said only 65 per cent of the project was completed in two-and-a-half years and the project would be further delayed from the set deadline, June 2020.
"As the three junctions are T-intersections with very little space between them, traffic snarls are the worst during peak hours. Commuters face the traffic snarls at least for one more year," he added.
The multi-level flyover is being built by the GHMC at an estimated cost of Rs 263.09 crore under the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) Phase- 3. The civic body has handed over the contract of the flyover to Stup Consultants Pvt Ltd.
