Hyderabad's steel bridges fail to lure builders

Hyderabad: There is no taker for the construction of steel bridges in the city. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation had already invited tenders for the proposed steel bridges at Nalgonda X road -Saidabad-IS Sadan-Owaisi Junction and Indira Park to VST  but not even a single bidder participated claiming that the project was not viable.

The corporation officials claimed that the price was quoted only according to the Standard Schedule Rate (SSR) prescribed by the government and it was not possible to revise it. 

But a senior GHMC official said that the issue was taken up before the state government on the question of whether to revise SSR rates or give relaxations for the project to be grounded.

The projects have to be taken up under Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP) and one steel bridge will be crossing the major intersections at NTR Stadium junction, Ashok Nagar junction, RTC crossroads junction, Baghlingam-pally and VST (Ramnagar) junctions. And one more four-lane steel bridge would ease traffic at Nalgonda X-Saidabad-IS Sadan-Owaisi Junction.

While the 2.610 metre elevated corridor from Indira Park to VST junction will be constructed at a cost of Rs 350 crore,  the Nalgonda crossroad bridge is expected to  cost Rs 298.49 crore. The corporation has already invited tenders during September and not even a single bidder participated in the auction.  

A senior GHMC official said that there were only five players in the country who had the eligibility to construct steel bridges. He said private agencies had been demanding higher amounts to take up the project and the current cost would not be viable for the project.