HYDERABAD: The main carriageways of two stretches - Shamirpet to Keesara (10.3 km) and Keesara to Ghatkesar (11 km) of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) will be made operational from next month and vehicles will be allowed to ply on these two stretches covering a length of 21.3 km.
This was informed to chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao by HMDA Metropolitan Commissioner T Chiranjeevulu when the chief minister enquired about the pending ORR works while he was passing through ORR on his way to Nizamabad district on Friday. Chiranjeevulu told the chief minister that two stretches would be operational by the end of May.
HMDA officials told Express that with the completion of Road over Bridge (RoB) at Ghatkesar and interchange works from Keesara to Ghatkesar, the main carriageway of 11 km main would be made operational from next month while laying of service roads will be completed in the next three months.
The Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL), a wing of HMDA, completed construction of the 45-metre viaduct above the railway line of RoB few months ago on the above stretch. The total length of the RoB is about 180-185 metres, HGCL laid the approach roads for 75 metres each on either side of the road last year.
Another stretch between Keesara and Shamirpet stretch (10.3 km) is going at a fast pace and the main carriageway would be opened to traffic by next month and laying of service roads and other related works would be completed by July this year.
Work on the 10.3 km ORR stretch hit a roadblock for nearly four years due to various reasons. Works were delayed as the previous government had terminated the contract with United Gulf Construction Company (UGCC) of Kuwait as the company missed several deadlines.
UGCC could not complete about 40 percent of the work. The work was allocated to new agencies.
A double trumpet interchange is proposed at the Kandlakoya junction and works on this stretch would be completed by year-end.
The work at Kandlakoya junction was held up for about five years due to stay order from the Supreme Court. The court gave green signal to HMDA to go ahead with the works in October last year.
As on date, HGCL has completed about 135 km of the total 158-km ORR.