People compete for cover as sudden showers lashed out at Hyderabad on Saturday. |Photo source: Siddhant Thakur
The monsoon is approaching, when the best roads in the city may succumb to the pressure of constant rainfall and water stagnation. The threat of potholes and bad patches is huge for commuters in the city, with the state sitting in the proposal for the Comprehensive Road Maintenance Program (CRMP).
Three months have passed since the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) submitted a proposal to extend CRMP for five years following the approval of the Standing Committee. The government has not made the same decision.
CRMP involves private institutions involved in road maintenance, which has achieved good results since its launch in 2019-2020. The new recommended road length is longer than before, with an upgrade of 50% cost upgrade.
During the first phase of CRMP, privately maintained major urban roads exceeded 800 km with an initial estimated cost of Rs 1,827 crore, starting in 2020 and starting in 2020. Although stormwater drainage, sanitation and greenery are also included in prososals, the later parts were included in the promotion, lowering them and taking them to waste, completely eliminating them and including them.
GHMC officials told the final expenditure in the CRMP phase was only Rs 13 billion. However, the new recommendations from the Standing Committee cleared put two options before the government.
The first option is to bring the road length of 744.22 km to CRMP in the next five years with a total expenditure of Rs 2491 crore. In addition, the road length can be increased to 1142.54 km, with an estimated cost of Rs 382.5 billion, which lasted for five years.
“In addition to the main access road length, we also include important pathways,” an official told the report. In addition, the proposals include the liberation of rainwater drainage and maintenance of greening, which add up.
Earlier plans included re-suming 50% of the roads in the first year, 30% in the second year and 20% in the third year. In the past two years, only the maintenance of the road has been involved. Some contracts end by the end of 2024, while others expire in the last week of January.
This time, the first two years will include maintaining the old roads and repaving the newly occupied roads, officials told the official. Milling and recovering of old roads will begin in year 3, he said.
With both given options, opening loopholes can be located in the treasury pocket, and the government will still make any decisions on the proposal. While the first phase of CRMP was carried out with the help of GHMC's still paying off loans, this time, funds have been sought from the government.
publishing – May 3, 2025, 11:55 pm ist
