A milestone in infrastructure development

HYDERABAD: When the 11km stretch of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) between Gachibowli and Shamshabad is thrown open for public use on Friday, the State capital will be crossing a milestone in development of the civic infrastructure.

Though the eight lane expressway of phase-I of the 158 km long ORR is expected to be completed by August next, the government has now decided to open the four-lane stretch to improve connectivity between the IT Hub Gachibowli and the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad (RGIA). The four-lane road will traverse through Narsingi, Andhra Pradesh Police Academy and Himayatsagar.

The 158-kilometre long ORR is estimated to cost a staggering Rs. 6,787 crore and is expected to be completed by December 2011. The ORR project is split into three phases, with the first phase covering the stretch between Gachibowli and Shamshabad (24.38 km); Phase-IIA between Narsingi to Patancheru and Pedda Amberpet to Shamshabad (62.30 km) and the Phase – II B between Patancheru to Pedda Amberpet via Medchal, Shamirpet and Ghatkesar (71.30 km).
Phase I

Presently part of the phase-I, the four lanes on the left side of the central median is being thrown open for bi-directional traffic reaching or originating from the RGIA only. The 11 km eight-lane stretch under package one is to cost Rs. 315 crore, (including land acquisition) while the second package of 13.38 km is to cost Rs. 384 crore. While a Russian company, Corporation Transstroy, OJSC has taken up works for this stretch, the second package is being executed by Continental Engineering Corporation of Taiwan.

The works of ORR phase-I commenced in July 2006 and there was a considerable delay, firstly in handing over the right of way to contractors as the stretches meander through the lands of Chilkur forest and the APPA. Then controversies over land acquisition followed by litigations over the alignment and removal of religious structures and rock excavations took much time.

The progress of the work was again affected due to deep excavation of upto 25 meters at several places. Authorities had to excavate nearly 28 lakh cubic meters of hard rock to form the road. Authorities had to go for controlled blasting of rocks near inhabited areas and this was another major stumbling block.