Hyderabad: The delay in the vital skyway which will ease traffic congestion in IT Corridors has inconvenienced 2.4 lakh daily commuters. The project is in cold storage thanks to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s failure to acquire 21 properties.
Though the civic body has offered transferable development rights (TDR), the property owners want compensation in monetary terms. This demand by the land owners has pushed the project’s deadline back 14 months.
According to GHMC officials, due to a funds crunch, the corporation has offered TDR to property owners who stand to lose their property or land for the construction of the four-lane elevated corridor from Jubilee Hills Road No. 45 to Durgam Cheruvu, which will integrate a cable stayed bridge under the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP).
Though the cable stayed bridge is nearing completion, the delay in property acquisition has forced the deadline for the elevated corridor to be extended. If vehicles will be left open on the cable stayed bridge in October, without completing the elevated corridor, the traffic in the entire corridor will be gridlocked. The entire stretch from Jubilee Hills checkpost to Madhapur, ITC Junction and Kondapur, will be jammed with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
The corporation has put in hardly any effort to acquire the 21 properties for the skyway in Jubilee Hills Road No. 45.
The government has been trying for more than a year to get property owners to accept TDR, but they are not willing to take it. Moreover, the corporation negotiated to pay compensation of Rs 1.2 lakh per square yard, but the land owners want Rs 2 lakh per square yard.
Civic officials say that even if they invoke the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, technically the process will take another eight months. “We have already completed construction of 45 spans out of total 70. The corporation has to acquire 21 properties to construct 15 more spans. The project went on smoothly for construction on 45 spans since it does not require any land or property acquisition,” says a GHMC official.
With property owners opposed to TDR and with the GHMC having no funds to acquire the properties under the Land Acquisition Act, things seem to be at an impasse. “The project will not move an inch until and unless the government comes to the rescue. Commuters will have to bear the brunt for at least two years,” the GHMC official added.
Even though the cable stayed bridge across the Durgam Cheruvu is completed, it will not be opened for vehicular traffic until the completion of the elevated corridor, but will be used as a recreational space for walkers.
This apart, out of 52 junctions, brisk progress could be seen only at Bairamalguda, Kamineni and Bio-Diversity junctions. The remaining 48 junctions have been hit by land acquisition problems.
Surprisingly, a skyway construction at Biodiver-sity junction has been put in cold storage for the last two years due to non-acquisition of two properties.
Demanding higher compensation, the property owners approached the courts and got a stay order.
