Hyderabad: Aramghar-Zoo Park bridge works set to miss deadline

Hyderabad: Close on the heels of the Bahadurpura bridge, the Aramghar-Zoo Park grade separator too is moving at a snail's pace. Most of its piers are not yet grounded despite barely a year is left to reach the drop-dead date of March 2023. A 4.048-km-long grade separator project from Aramghar to Zoo Park is being built with at fund support of Rs 636.80 crore under the Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP). The bridge is part of a series being built to form a complete inner circle around the city aimed at solving the ever-increasing traffic issues in the metropolis.

However, going by the pace of work it appears that the project may flunk the test of completing work on time as was done in the case of Bahadurpura project which failed to meet the deadline more than once.

The project was embarked last year by breaking the customary taboo. Its work started with soil-testing in September 2021 without a formal inauguration, as was witnessed in other cases.

Of the total 119 pillars, only 10 have been completed during the last seven months. Work of remaining 109 piers is in different stages. Only a year's time is left for the project to meet the deadline of March 2023 when it is to be ready to open for public.

When contacted, Dattupant, Superintending Engineer (Projects), South Zone, GHMC, said, "Ten pillars have been completed so far. The foundation was laid for another 30 pillars, while 25 more were raised to a feet height. As per the agreement, the project should be ready by March 2023. We are trying hard to complete it on time. If everything moves according to plans the project will be ready by March 2023."

When asked about properties affected by the project, he said, "A total of 163 properties are affected. Of them 30 have already been taken over and cleared. An amount of Rs 175 crore has been allocated for land acquisition."