Infra focus on Great Hyderabad

Hyderabad : The Congress government has laid special focus on comprehensive development of the historic city of Hyderabad which is fast emerging as a global city. Though it has gone into auto pilot mode in terms of growth, it still lags in proper infrastructural facilities like wide roads, scientific traffic system, public transport system, proper drainage and sewerage system.

One shower throws the life out of gear in the city. Not just planning, for meeting the growing needs of drinking water is also necessary lest it may face Delhi like situation. Keeping all this in view, the budget presented by Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had allocated Rs 10,000 crore for the development of the city. This is the first time that such high amounts have been allocated for civic services in the city. Bhatti said the GHMC, HMDA and Metro Water Works Board will play a very important role in the modernisation of the city. He said the government was earmarking Rs 3,065 crore to GHMC, Rs 500 crore to HMDA, Rs 3,385 crore to Metro Water Works Board in the budget. Besides this, the government has allocated Rs 200 crore for the HYDRA (Hyderabad Disaster Relief and Asset Protection Agency), Rs 100 crore for the extension of Metro rail to the airport, Rs 200 crore for the outer ring road (ORR), Rs 500 crore for Metro rail to the Old City, Rs 50 crore for MMTS and Rs 1,500 crore for the Musi Riverfront Project.

The Finance Minister said though crores of rupees were accrued to the government through sale of lands in and around Hyderabad in the past, the funds were not spent for the improvement of Hyderabad City. He said the government proposes to develop 78.4 kms of 5 extended corridors with an outlay of Rs 24,042 crore. As part of this project, Metro rail will be extended to the Old City and will also be connected to the Shamshabad airport. He said Nagole, LB Nagar and Chandrayanagutta stations will be developed as interchange stations. It will extend the Metro rail facility from Miyapur to Patancheru and LB Nagar to Hayathnagar.

Under the Musi Riverfront Project, it is proposed to revive the ecosystem around the Musi River and improve 110 kms of urban area.

As part of this project, recreation zones, people’s plazas, children theme parks and entertainment zones would be developed. The Musi Riverfront Project would be done on the lines of Thames Riverfront Project in London.

Stating that the ORR is like a precious jewel around Hyderabad, the minister said this had resulted in the rapid growth of the Hyderabad City. Such results need to be replicated in other parts of the state which can be achieved through construction of the Regional Ring Road. The northern road from Sanga Reddy-Toopran-Gajwel-Choutuppal is 158.6 kms and the southern side 189 kms from Choutuppal-Shadhnagar-Sanga Reddy are proposed to be upgraded to facilitate their declaration as the National Highways.

The Regional Ring Road will be constructed with the standards of expressway. As per the estimates, the northern part of RRR will cost Rs 13,522 crore and southern part will cost Rs 12,980 crore. For the current year, the government proposes to spend Rs 1,525 crore on the construction of the Regional Ring Road.