HYDERABAD: Construction of flyovers, grade separators, underpasses and road under/over bridges, worth Rs  6,000 crore, is in progress under the Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP) in Hyderabad city, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister KT Rama Rao said in the Assembly on Friday.

The Telangana government, in the last four years, has taken up development works and projects amounting to Rs  29,695.16 crore under the SRDP. Of these, 18 works costing Rs  6,000 crore have been completed, which include nine flyovers, four underpasses, three RoBs and RuBs each, a bridge and a cable-stayed bridge at Madhapur.

Replying to questions by MLAs A Gandhi and D Sudheer Reddy during the Question Hour, Rama Rao said the SRDP aims at ensuring hassle-free traffic flow. He said Hyderabad is already witnessing traffic gridlocks, with lakhs of vehicles plying on its streets every day. The government is trying to resolve this issue by widening the city’s roads and strengthening public modes of transport such as the Metro Rail and TSRTC buses.

Land acquisition

Regarding the delay in land acquisition for pending projects, the MAUD Minister said the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner has been appointed Special Collector Land Acquisition to expedite the process in Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal and Sangareddy. Lea Associates Pvt Ltd had been tasked with studying traffic-related issues and suggesting ways to solve these, he said. The firm had studied the situation for two years and submitted a comprehensive report to the State government.

Road widening works

Answering a question raised by MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, Rama Rao said road widening work worth over Rs  2,000 crore is underway, of which Rs  713 crore has been spent in the old city alone. The Minister would soon hold a meeting with the MLAs from the old city to review the progress. In the past five years, 81 works -- including general roads, SRDP roads and missing link/slip roads -- have been initiated and 44 of these are completed. Fourteen general works out of 30, 18 SRDP works out of 32 and 12 out of 19 missing link roads have been completed. 

Out of the Rs  713 core worth works undertaken in the old city, Rs  477 crore has been allocated for general roads, Rs  228 crore for SRDP and Rs  8 crore for missing link roads. This constitutes nearly 25 per cent of the GHMC’s budget earmarked for roads, Rama Rao said.  Meanwhile, the civic body has saved Rs  500 crore by implementing the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) scheme for road widening. The TDR scheme has proved to be a successful instrument in speeding up land acquisition for road widening.