HYDERABAD: The Government has accorded administrative sanction for the construction of a new flyover between Balanagar Crossroads and Narasapur Crossroads at a total cost of Rs. 387 crore, including the expenditure for land acquisition, by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA).
In the orders released a few days ago, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department Secretary Navin Mittal, who took charge recently, mentioned that the cost of grade separator between two of the busiest junctions in the Twin Cities would be met with the revenue generated from the Building Regularisation Scheme (BRS), Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) and other HMDA sources.
GHMC proposal
Interestingly, the proposal to build the flyover at these two junctions was originally made by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) last year under its Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP). The civic body had then informed the Government of frequent traffic jams between Balanagar Crossroads and Narasapur Crossroads causing much inconvenience to the commuters and also to scores of workers in the industries nearby.
Therefore, it wanted to take up the construction of a six lane flyover at a cost of Rs. 122 crore and the general body of the municipal corporation too had given its approval and the same was sent to the Government. The plan was to have a 60 metres wide flyover as per the Master Plan.
Acquisition first
It was estimated that an area of 33,175.698 sq.metres of land was getting affected with 32 properties to be acquired on the left side and 27 properties on the right hand side for the project. The cost of land acquisition as well as structural compensation has been estimated to be Rs.265 crore.
The civic body sought permission for taking up all the work — land acquisition and construction — simultaneously through the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode and also for engaging project management consultants.
However, the Government has decided to allow the HMDA to take up the work as it too had proposed to build grade separators at Balanagar and Narasapur for the same cost. Only condition being that unless substantial extent of land and affected properties are acquired, the agreement should not be signed with the chosen contractor through tenders.
