ORR inching close to completion.

It would be another 18 months before the entire circle of the 158-km Outer Ring Road (ORR) gets completed and thrown open to public use.

To complete the circle at the earliest, the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL) has invited contractors to finish the remaining work between Shamirpet and Keesara. The earlier contract for this 10.3-km stretch with United Gulf Construction Company (UGCC) was recently terminated as the company delayed the work.

Having called for bids from interested contractors, officials of the HGCL, a wing of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), look at the possibility of completing the tender process in 45 days and get required approvals from the government, high-level committee and also Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which extended financial support to the project.

'Once the project gets required approvals, the contractor will have 15 months to complete the stretch which could mean around October 2015,' said an official associated with the project. According to him, if possible delays were taken into account, the project would then be completed by the end of 2015.

So far, over 124 km of the project from Pedda Amberpet to Shamirpet through Patancheru has been completed and made available to public while delays have hit the final arc of 33.3 km between Shamirpet and Pedda Amberpet.


THE HINDU