HYDERABAD: AN Urban Centre of Excellence would be set up in 2020-21 and TS-bPASS in place soon, once the State Cabinet approves it. These were the highlights of the Municipal Admini s t r at i on and Urban Development (MAUD) Department’s annual report for 2019- 20 released by Municipal, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, along with his counterparts Talasani Srinivas Yadav and E Dayakar Rao, apart from MAUD Principal Secretary Arvind Kumar here on Wednesday. The report stated that a comprehensive waste management policy is under consideration, covering all types of urban waste, and would be implemented in all cities, including Hyderabad.

The Telangana State Building Permission Approval and Self-certification System (TSbPASS) — a timebound online self-certification building and layout approval system on the lines of TS-iPASS, is also being tested and would be launched after it is approved by the Cabinet, the report stated. Rama Rao said the Telangana government is striving hard to transform the cities and municipalities in the State. He also mentioned that it is implementing the new Municipal Act for faster development.

Most liveable city

The path-breaking initiative of the State government — Transfer Development Right (TDR) — eased the process of land acquisition in Hyderabad. Owing to this, the city within the GHMC limits, saw 100 per cent increase in the total built-up area for commercial projects since 2015. The total commercial built-up area increased from 50.7 million sft between 2014-15 to 100.44 million sft now. This is projected to increase by another 60 million sft in the next couple of years.

This year, in a unique concept of road maintenance covering the major arteries of the city, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) initiated the Comprehensive Road Maintenance Project (CRMP). This is a firstof- its-kind initiative wherein a competent, capable and experienced private player is entrusted with the maintenance of a particular stretch of road. It would not only make a capital investment in creating the road infrastructure to a set standard, but also maintain the same throughout the contractual period of five years.

About 709 km or major roads in the city are entrusted to six agencies. The agencies gave a facelift to the city roads as they are obliged to lay about 331 km of roads in the first year itself. Work worth `2,000 crore was carried out during the 60-day lockdown. Foundations of all flyovers, laying of 300 km of BT surfacing, about 30 km of VDCC roads and a total of 27 stretches covering 44 km were taken up under the missing link roads. This earned widespread appreciation as work, which would require six months, was completed during the lockdown.