HYDERABAD: With the Supreme Court permitting it to take up the double-trumpet interchange at Kandlakoya Junction work, near Medchal, on the Outer Ring Road (ORR), the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has decided to expedite the work and see that the incomplete ORR portion of 1.10 km is completed at the earliest.
Except for that stretch at Kandlakoya Junction under Package-3, from km 46.000 to km 61.700 (Northern Arc) from Dundigal to Shamirpet (15.70 km), the 158-km-long, eight-lane access-controlled expressway is nearing completion.
Senior officials of HMDA held a detailed meeting with the contractors, KNR Construction Limited-GVR Infra Projects Limited joint venture a few days ago and asked them to submit a detailed schedule for commencing the pending work. Work on the 15.70-km-long stretch from Dundigal to Shamirpet, costing about Rs 576.38 crore, began in June 2009 and was to be completed in about 30 months’ time.
The contractors completed the main carriageway except for a length of 1.10 km where a double-trumpet interchange at Kandlakoya (on NH-7 towards Medchal) was proposed but could not be taken up due to stay orders from the Supreme Court. The land acquisition case had been pending before the Supreme Court for almost five years.
As per the Supreme Court’s directions, HMDA will acquire nearly 110 acres of land at Kandlakoya Junction in Medchal area for laying the ORR. HMDA officials said the value of work held up there was about Rs 130 crore. Under the Package-II interchanges, one rail overbridge, 17 minor bridges, 12 underpasses and overpasses have been proposed.
SB Kirloskar and a few others had moved the High Court against the proposed land acquisition. The petitioners said the ORR alignment had been altered several times to favour a few powerful persons. The High Court stayed the land acquisition notification issued after the change in the alignment. The HMDA filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the stay granted by the High Court.
The eight-lane expressway runs to a total length of 158 km, ringing the Greater Hyderabad city. Of the 158-km ORR, about 135-km of the road has been completed and opened to traffic and work on the remaining two stretches, Shamirpet-Keesara and Keesara-Ghatkesar is going apace.