Work on Shamirpet-Keesara stretch of ORR to begin soon

HYDERABAD: With no objection coming from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to bids and award of works, work on the Shamirpet-Keesara stretch (10.3 km) of Outer Ring Road (ORR), which hit a roadblock for nearly four years, will begin this month.

Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL) will enter into an agreement with Gayatri Projects Ltd shortly for allocating the works. The agency will be asked to complete the main carriageway in nine months and the service roads and other related works in about 15 months.

The total cost of the project is about Rs 179 crore. Three firms bid for the contract _ Gayatri Projects Ltd, NCC Ltd and KNR Constructions Ltd. Of them, GPL quoted the least, a difference of about Rs 9 crore.

The technical and high-level committee appointed by the state government approved the GPL' bid. The high-level committee headed by chief secretary Rajiv Sharma approved the proposal of HGCL, a wing of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority on the selection of the bidder.

HMDA officials told that JICA would provide financial assistance to HMDA for the project.

At present, there is traffic movement on a 120-km stretch of ORR between Pedda Amberpet and Shamirpet via Shamshabad and Patancheru. The final work on Phase-II was divided into three packages: Shamirpet-Keesara, Keesara-Ghatkesar and Ghatkesar-Pedda Amberpet.

The Ghatkesar-Pedda Amberpet stretch was completed four months ago has not been opened to traffic as chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao is too busy to inaugurate it.

Work on the 158-km ORR began in 2007 and the project missed several deadlines for completion. The revised deadline is 2016. Apart from completing a stretch between Shamirpet to Keesara, some leftover roads and junctions such as Kandlakoya may take a year for completion, officials said.

HMDA had completed 124 km of the 158-km ORR and opened to traffic the Gachibowli-Shamshabad (Phase-I), Pedda Amberpet-Shamshabad, Narsingi-Patancheru and Patancheru-Shamirpet (Phase II-A) stretches.

Work on the jinxed 10.3-km-long stretch from Shamirpet to Keesara got delayed as the previous government had terminated the contract with United Gulf Construction Company (UGCC) of Kuwait last year.

HGCL floated fresh tenders for taking up the remaining work on the eight-lane, access-controlled expressway. HGCL and UGCC signed an agreement in March 2010. Due to constant pressure from HGCL, UGCC could complete about 40 pc of the work.