Fund crunch hits infra sector
HMDA, GHMC mostly rely on special purpose vehicles to raise funds
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) appears to have gone slow on building infrastructure projects. It had completed projects worth `9,226.10 crore during the 10-year Congress regime but has managed `208.60 crore worth of projects against the total sanctioned `1,561.50 crore in the last six years, within the Outer Ring Road (ORR).
Earlier, it had completed the PVNR Expressway, flyovers at Langer Houz and Hitec City, the Kukatpally road overbridge (RoB) and master plan roads in the Hyderabad Airport Development Area, development of the ORR including land acquisition and radial roads.
It also implemented the Hussainsagar and Catchment area Improvement Project (HCIP), the bridge at Bapughat and Comprehensive Transportation Study for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Area.
It has since managed to partially execute the `170crore Balanagar flyover, the `32-crore Radial Road No. 11 and the `6.5-crore ramps on the PVNR Expressway. Works worth `1,353 crore are pending. Officials claimed that this was due to a severe financial crunch. The HMDA and GHMC have been mostly relying on special purpose vehicles including the Hyderabad Road Development Corporation Limited and the Musi Riverfront Development Corporation Limited to raise funds, apart from selling bonds and borrowing from financial institutions.
They said that execution agencies had failed to acquire land despite having funds as the focus was on the irrigation and power sectors. Officials said the execution agencies will spend `50,000 crore in the next five years.
The HMDA has on its books projects like the 18.35-km skyway from Paradise Junction to the Kandlakoya ORR junction on the Nagpur highway and another from Paradise junction to Shamirpet ORR junction on the Rajiv Rahadari for 18.4 km.
Both skyways are proposed to have six lanes, with up and down ramps. The detailed project report (DPR) for the skyway to Rajiv Rahadari is complete and is under prepation for the one leading to the Nagpur highway.
The HMDA has proposed to develop a 528acre layout in Kokapet with plot sizes of three to
10 acres for mixed use. The widening of service roads of the ORR from two lanes to four lane over
48 km from the TS Police Academy to Kollur is also on the cards.There is a plan to build additional interchanges at Narsingi, Kokapet layout and Janwada on ORR along with two overpasses. Skywalks for pedestrians with multiple connectivity are also proposed at Uppal and Mehdipatnam, among others.