The city, in the past 12 months, underwent a major transformation on the cleanliness, the visual appeal and the landscaping on the arterial thoroughfares front. It has helped the city bag the title ‘India’s cleanest big city’ in the one million population category in May.
On the flip side several problems including bad roads, inundation, overflowing drainage and traffic congestion persist and the development projects that could have eased most problems are still going on making denizens to look up for one more year to see the transformation.
In addition, they have added to the city’s pollution and traffic problems.
The stormwater drainage project, a basic urban infrastructure, which began in November 2016 is supposed to be completed by the end of 2018. The work of side and open drains in many areas is going on causing inconvenience to the public on not just the busy roads but also in the residential colonies.
The Kanakadurga flyover, which as per the official promise should have been opened for public in June, is still months away from completion, according to the R&B department which is executing it. Even after the postponement of deadlines, officials are not sure if it will materialise by March.
Huge burden
Despite going on at a fast pace, the first phase of the Benz Circle flyover is also a few months away from completion. The construction has been a huge burden on the traffic on the national highway. The decade-old Vijayawada-Machilipatnam road extension part of the national highway (Machilipatnam-Hyderabad) is getting finishing touches.
Other incomplete projects like the Christurajpuram road extension, the Gunadala-Moghalrajpuram underground electricity cable lines, the Kanuru flyover and others are only causing dust pollution in the localities. So much so that the Tax Payers Association made a representation to civic chief J. Nivas that dust and sound pollution had gone up drastically in several areas.
Association secretary M.V. Anjaneyulu said unattended blacktop roads that were dug up for developmental works had become a major source of pollution.
Due to little and slow-paced efforts of the civic body and the departments concerned, the problem of inundation in low lying areas like Rotary Nagar, APIIC Colony, Autonagar 100ft road and others continues as proved after the Phethai cyclone. Projects like the construction of 17 bridges and extension of several roads and others have hit a roadblock due to various reasons.
The food court at the Padmavati ghat, the smart traffic signalling system and the renovated Chennupati Ramakotaiah Indoor Stadium are among the other projects expected to be completed in the coming months.