Kokapet area, touted as the next generation IT destination of Telangana, is sitting on a ticking time bomb, with traffic threatening to explode multi-fold in the coming two years.
Expanding the existing road network in the area has become the most urgent concern for the urban development authorities after an alarm was sounded by the Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) about the traffic situation.
HMDA owned more than 630 acres in Kokapet, of which it had auctioned 166 acres, and about 100 acres was reportedly allotted to major IT companies.
The need to develop road infrastructure commensurate with the growth projections in the area, however, had not occurred to the authorities, till the forewarning issued by the SCSC.
In a letter addressed to IT Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan, General Secretary of the society Krishna Yedula raised concerns about the Kokapet cluster posing severe traffic and security concerns.
Currently, about 13,000 employees are working out of the 50 lakh square feet of commercial space developed by one GAR Corporation, and in the coming few months it could accommodate 40,000 more employees, the letter said. In near future, the corporation seeks to expand its commercial built up space by 70 lakh sft more, housing approximately 70,000 more employees.
Besides, the IT cluster in about 100 acres on the Kokapet Hill will add a lakh more employees in two years, and added with more commercial space to be developed by other private builders, the area is set to heave with heavy traffic.
The GAR Corporation has already raised an alarm about the narrow two-lane service road unable to carry the load of 13,000 commuters, and represented the matter to the Cyberabad Commissioner of Police.
The ORR too has only one exit for a long distance up to Police Academy on one side and Kollur on the other. Flagging other issues pertaining to security, and pedestrian crossing, the letter also highlighted lack of transportation and reluctance by cab aggregators to service this area, bereft of any public transportation.
Senior officials of HMDA, while admitting that the area is set to experience the rush of over 5 lakh employees in the coming five years, said efforts are on to develop suitable infrastructure. With high rises planned, built up space is poised to increase in the coming two to three years, requiring rapid widening of roads and creation of new ones, they said.