Hyderabad: Tier-II cities in the state like Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Warangal and Khammam along with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s home constituency Gajwel in Medak district are to get their own outer ring roads. The municipal administration and urban development department has come out with an action plan to construct ORRs in these cities, and tenders are being readied to start work by December. Only Hyderabad in the state has an ORR, which has become a growth engine for development along the city’s outskirts.
The state government wants to adopt the Gujarat model to attracting investments in various sectors in Tier-II cities by developing ORRs and to avoid concentration of the IT and industrial development in and around Hyderabad. As per the action plan, the ORR construction would begin in Gajwel first, followed by Warangal, Khammam, Karimnagar and Nizamabad.
“The state government has already given administrative approvals to construct ORRs in Gajwel and Khammam. Detailed project reports are being prepared for the other three ORRs. Efforts are being made to issue and finalise tenders by November to launch construction work from December,” said a senior official of Municipal Administration and Urban Development. The government has set a deadline of three years to complete these projects.
Officials said the Tier-II cities have the potential to attract investments in various sectors if world-class road connectivity is provided and traffic issues are resolved. The study on investments received under TS-iPASS revealed that most investors were opting to set up their units around Hyderabad due to the ORR and shying away from going to the districts due to congested roads and traffic issues despite the availability of abundant government land.
