PVN Expressway to be ready only by May ’09

- July 25, 2008

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 24th July 2008, Hyderabad edition

Hyderabad: It will be a longer wait for air passengers waiting for the completion of P V Narsimha Rao Expressway to ease their travel woes. The complete commissioning of P V Narasimha Rao Expressway has been postponed once again, this time till May 2009.
The construction of the 11.5 km P V Narasimha Rao Expressway from Sarojini Devi Hospital at Mehdipatnam to Aramgarh crossroads started in August 2006. The Rs 438 crore express highway project was expected to be completed in 26 months and be ready by October 2008.
With the delay in the commissioning, the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda) has come up with an alternate proposal, of opening a part of the flyover for use. Huda vice-chairman K S Jawahar Reddy told ‘TOI’ that Huda had sent a proposal to the government about opening the partially completed flyover. So far, only 4 km stretch of the expressway from SD Eye Hospital to Hyderguda has been completed. Officials said the new proposal is to construct a down ramp at the Hyderguda junction so that this portion of the completed expressway can be used.
“If the government accepts, part of the flyover can be opened for public in three months,” Jawahar Reddy said. Severe labour shortage is delaying the project completion. Besides, the rise in steel and cement prices has also made the contractor put the project on hold.
“The contractor kept the project on hold for sometime because of rise in steel and cement prices. Following the government’s assurance to the contractor about the compensation, the project is once again on track. One of the biggest challenges is to remove the underground utility services,” said Huda chief engineer Vivek Deshmukh.
As several infrastructure projects are in progress there is a great demand for skilled and semi-skilled workers. “Ideally there should be 1,400 to 1,500 workers per day for the project. Until two months ago, the contractor was short of 200 workers but now things have fallen in place,” Deshmukh said.
As of now, out of the 328 piers, only 176 have been completed. As many as 100 precast segments have been arranged out of the 327. “To compensate for the delay, the work is now going on briskly. The under pass at Aramgarh area on the way to Shamshabad will be completed by the month-end. Along with this the trumpet near the entry of the airport will also be ready,” an official said.