Radial roads to get cash

The final discussions with the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) appraisal team about loan component for Outer Ring Road Phase II B concluded on Monday.
JBIC also agreed to sanction about Rs. 1,000 crore under sectoral loan category over a period of three years for about 10 radial roads. Four radial roads - one from Indra Reddy statue to Rajendranagar, Rethibowli Junction to APPA, Tippu Junction to Gandipet and the Sagar Road (State Highway) would be taken up for development in 2008.A wrap-up meeting will be held on November 8 between the JBIC team and the Department of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Urban Development at New Delhi, according to ORR officials here. It would be followed by another meeting with Japanese government representatives in the month of December. Though the JBIC indicated in July that it was willing to fund the ORR Phase II B, a series of meetings has been scheduled to assess the project and its fund requirement, said ORR project director Piyush Kumar. The JBIC in-principle agreed for extending Rs. 2,400 crore of the Rs. 2,900 crore ORR Phase II B and the loan will be released after completion of procedural formalities in February 2008. The work on the 71-km Phase II B would commence in June 2008 and scheduled to be completed by 2009-end. As important as the ORR are the 32 radial roads identified by the HUDA including State and National Highways for development as four- or six-lane roads to help commuters access the ORR from core city. Significantly, the JBIC also agreed to sanction about Rs. 1,000 crore under sectoral loan category over a period of three years for about 10 radial roads. Four radial roads - one from Indra Reddy statue to Rajendranagar, Rethibowli Junction to APPA, Tippu Junction to Gandipet and the Sagar Road (State Highway) would be taken up for development in 2008. With the loan component for the entire ORR project tied up, it is expected to be ready by 2010. The 24-km ORR first phase connecting Gachibowli and Shamshabad would be completed in all respects by September 2008 while four-lane connectivity to the International Airport would be in place by March 2008, he informed. The work on the 62-km ORR Phase IIA split into five packages would commence on November 15. It was delayed by a month due to some land acquisition petitions and most of them have been resolved. The Rs. 2,439 crore Phase II A being taken up on annuity model should be ready by July 2009, Mr. Piyush Kumar said.The Rs. 6,000 crore 162-km ORR project is being projected as the major solution for the existing traffic congestion in the city limits which had drastically reduced the driving speed from 17 km /hour in 1981 to 12 km/hr as per 2006 data. Source: The Hindu