ORR: A promise unkept
The unfinished Outer Ring Road, Hyderabad’s growth corridor, is yet to meet its promises of safety as it is still bogged down with land acquisition issues
Two years after its inauguration, the status of the Outer Ring Road remains unfinished. As of now, the project has completed 87 km of the total 158 km in different phases. The present phase of construction, Phase II-B continues has stumbled upon the problem of land acquisition.
The stretches between Gachibowli to Shamshabad, Pedda Amberpet to Shamshabad and Narsingi to Patancheru come under Phase 1 and Phase 2-A .All of which have been open for public use for the past two-and-a-half years.
Currently another stretch, the Patancheru-Pedda Amberpet, part of Phase-II-B, has been divided into six segments. Among these the works between Patancheru to Mallampet (11 km) and another between Mallampet to Dundigal (11.3 km) were supposed to be finished by the end of January 2012.
Also in the league is another stretch, Dundigal to Shamirpet (15.7 km), which has come upon fierce opposition of local ryots. Since this matter is pending in the court, the HMDA has decided to move forward with the plan and build an alternative route. This interchange will be located at Kandlakoya.
This temporary interchange will however increase the distance by 3 km. Curiously, the most important feature in the ORR project was the presence of toll booths in over 12 interchange points across the ring road. However, there has been no word on the setting up of toll booths.
The weak response to the toll booth bidding is yet to be determined as the HMDA is yet to finalise the two tenders that have been placed in February 2012, even after the toll rates being finalised in April 2011.
“As of now, the project is progressing smoothly. Excepting the few cases of land acquisition presenting a problem, which the HMDA is currently pursuing, we are in full swing to complete the project,” said project director of the ORR, Samuel Anand Kumar.
Recently, the Cyberabad traffic police manning the Outer Ring Road said the presence of toll booths would have helped reducing accidents and deaths on the ORR.
As of now, the tenders are yet to be finalised by the HMDA regarding this matter. Meanwhile, the ORR under lax overseeing continues to prove unsafe.
About the Author (Author Profile)
Tea drinker, imaginary bass player, posterchor, left liberal world planner, star gazer.. and other significant things.
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Loading ...
Exchange Rate
