The 339 km long Regional Ring Road project beyond Outer Ring Road of Hyderabad is likely to take some more time as the Centre is said to have ordered a fresh survey on the volume of traffic on its southern corridor over 181 kms.
The resurvey was ordered after the Ministry of Transport and Highways raised doubts about the viability of the project as the southern corridor did not have traffic volume more than 5,000 to 6,000 vehicles an hour.
Whether grounding such a high budget project for a small number of vehicles was the question.
Proposal conceded
The State government represented to the Centre that a clear picture on traffic would emerge only after north and south corridors integrated in a ring.
The road will be useful only when it is aligned in a ring.
The traffic on southern corridor would be similar to the northern one after that. The Ministry conceded the proposal and ordered a fresh survey, sources said.
The prestigious four lane express way project estimated to cost Rs 7,512 crore was divided into two parts -- northern and southern corridors.
Approved alignment
The final alignment for the northern corridor over 158.46 kms which connects Sangareddy, Narsapur, Toopran, Gajwel, Jagdevpur, Bhongir, Yadadri and Chouttuppal has already been approved by the Ministry after two surveys and posed to the State government for land acquisition. The traffic on this corridor was fixed at 19,000 vehicles per hour.
Nagpur-based J & J Constructions had submitted four options of alignment, of which option one was selected by the Ministry authorised National Highways Authority of India.
Sources added that the government had decided to appoint staff district-wise to complete the land acquisition and provide them the requisite machinery by this month-end.
About 4,000 acres of land is required for the purpose in four districts.
The road will run for 40 kms each in the four districts -- Sangareddy, Medak, Siddipet and Bhongir -- and touch 80 to 100 villages. The land acquisition is proposed to be completed in one year by district-level units of officers and staff. The units will take shape by January-end.
Balancing reservoirs
Billed as the longed regional ring road in the country, the alignment for the project did not factor in balancing reservoirs of Kaleshwaram lift-irrigation scheme that might fall on the way.
Therefore, the initial alignment for the northern corridor was done away with and fresh proposals were considered taking into account reservoirs, canals and feeder channels.
The alignment was redesigned taking into consideration several diversions.
This was accepted by the NHAI.
The cost of land acquisition will be shared equally by State and Central governments but the construction of the road will be entirely borne by the Centre under Bharat Mala programme.
