HYDERABAD: The State government will give top priority to strengthening the public transport system to ease traffic in Greater Hyderabad.
The government has announced the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration Project with a budget of Rs 10,000 crore towards this end, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) KT Rama Rao said on Wednesday.
The State government is exploring the possibility of developing an elevated Bus Rapid Transport System or a Tramway between JNTU junction, Kukatpally and HiTec City to ease traffic as a Metro Rail is ruled out on this stretch, Rama Rao said.
Answering a question raised by MLA K P Vivekananda and others during Question Hour in Assembly on Wednesday, Rama Rao Minister stated that efforts are being made to expand the Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) operations.
He said a detailed project report for the Airport Metro Express corridor is being examined. Proposals have been already sent to L&T for introducing passes for Hyderabad Metro Rail for the convenience of regular commuters.
‘MGBS-Falaknuma route to be completed for sure’
Replying to a question raised by MIM MLAs S A Pasha Quadri, Ahmed Bin Abdullah Balala, Jaffer Hussain and others, Rama Rao said the 5 km stretch of Metro Rail Corridor-II between MGBS and Falaknuma was yet to be taken up, while the rest of Phase-I of the project had been completed.
The government, however, was committed to complete the same. KTR said that 93 religious structures existed on this stretch and that 18 of them would have been affected during the road-widening and Metro Rail alignment.
However, the government had saved these structures through engineering solutions.
“We will soon take up land acquisition for the projects and seek the cooperation of local MLAs for smooth progress of the project,” he said