You have read in News Papers, the Govt and HUDA claiming that the Express Highway will be completed before end 2008 so that traffic will "flow" from Airport to Guchibowli! "Just a few months delay; that is all!" Do not get taken for a ROYAL RIDE! Read through the Report and be updated about the TRUTH ON THE GROUND.
Our team tried to carry out an "expedition" today (04.03.2008) from Guchibowli to Shamshabad, along the route of the Express Highway which according to the Govt. will be ready, in a few Months. In June 2007, we had to call-off trip, after Himaayat Sagar, at the Large Hillock. And we are sure our readers will not be surprised to know that after almost a year, we had to cancel the expedition again! Its impossible to cut through the place, even by walk.
The Express Highway is now an incredible mess. Excavation, blasting and clearance of debris of mammoth scale is pending in large stretches. Between Rajendra Nagar and Himayat Sagar, gigantic structures have to be erected to carry the road from ground level up to the Hills and through that.
Except a few gutters, all bridges/changeovers/ junctions etc are in very basic state of work. Most have not even seen excavation, yet.
Load-bearing embankments have to be built all along. Several Kms will be of at least 30 to 40 feet high! Such retaining structures itself, will take years to build. And work can start only when excavation is completed. Future looks depressing.
Mr. Piyush Kumar had blamed, in the media, AP Police Academy and Muralee Mohan for delay. But if we take a look at the condition today, work progress at APPA, Puppalaguda etc are far ahead, compared to areas where land was always available. The inefficient director has been throwing wool over people's eyes, for too long! Its nice to see that he is relieved of work, on 28th February.
EXCLUSIVE VENTURES VERDICT:
The Expressway from Guchibowli to Airport with just 50% width of road, will be available for traffic ONLY after 3 to 4 years. DO NOT EVEN DREAM to travel till 2011!
The work progress is a telling example of a non performing Govt. This project now has almost gone to dogs.
It will take a very efficient Government years, to put this project, back on track.
Our Expectation:
Ready for use by Commuters (with 50% road width) - 2011 or Later (Let the Govt. prove otherwise!)
Project Percentage Completion as of March 2008 - ONLY 20%
To achieve partial completion by 2011, we need a doer! Someone like Mr. E Sreedharan, the Man who built Delhi Metro and Konkan Rail. Defenitely not Piyush Kumar!
When you stand at Guchibowli Signal, you are fooled to believe that the road is done! Go up to L&T and you will get to have an inkling, of the mess ahead!
Almost 1.5 KM has to be cut open. Hillock. We could see only a few labourers using rock drills. Give at least an year from now, for this place to get built.
We could see some length of road before Nanakramguda. But its hanging in mid air with no access from either side.
At Nanakramguda the under-pass is coming up. But its only 50% done. With the approach roads on either side, it will take at least an year to complete.
Beyond Nanakramguda, till Narsingi, the land is plain and for an efficient Agency, the work should not take even an year to complete. But the way the place looks, with unfinished bridges, gutters, empty land with half built roads of 40 to 50 m lengths.... you can not hold back but hurl choicest expletives at HUDA.
An awful lot of water may have to flow under the bridge! ....to make this Project come through! The location where ORR joins Express Highway, looks like Hiroshima, just bombed.
Well, these photographs show the current mess just after Narsingi, once we cross Gandipet Road and move towards Manchirevula. Give an year or more for over head crossing to come at Gandipet Road. You do not have to be a railroad engineer to figure out what is in store!
More photographs showing the current mess at Manchirevula.
A little bit of Road just before APPA. We can see APPA Quarters, in the second pic.
We are now moving from APPA, along Himayatsagar towards Rajendranagar. (The road with white Line is Chilkur Road) As you may observe, the Over Head flyover is in nascent stage of work. Give at least ONE YEAR just for this to be completed, provided work re-starts. The second pic shows a length of partly completed road. Incidentally contrator is happily laying bitumen here, while 18 Km of road is yet to be constructed! Great planning by HUDA and its ORR Director!
That is the way part of the road looks like, before you reach Rajendra Nagar to Himayat Sagar Road.
Just before Rajendra Nagar road, the ORR is supposed to "fly" on elevated pillars and then ramp into Huge Hills and cut through them. This would be almost 4 to 5 KM. This is a major engineering work. Unfortunately, other than few pillars, nothing much is done.
This is the Hills of Rajendra Nagar. They are massive. The contractor has attempted to blast them. Incidentally, the terrain is very hostile. Its impossible to go through this area and move towards Shamshabad. We could see big ravines, valleys and hillocks still untouched. EXPECT AT LEAST THREE YEARS, BEFORE REASONABLE PROGRESS IS ACHIEVED HERE.
If YOU were to visit Rajendra Nagar location now, YOU will be agitated enough to call for doling out exemplary punishment to HUDA, its ORR Director and others in misleading the public, about the progress of this VITAL connecting Road from Airport to Guchibowli.
Where is the road to the Airport?!
WE HAVE NOTHING MORE TO ADD, EXCEPT COPY THE COMMENT MADE BY US IN JUNE 20007 REPORT AND REITERATE THAT THE TARGET FOR COMPLETION, NOW STANDS AT 2011!
QUOTE FROM JUNE 2007 REPORT
"We found that with just few months away to 2008 March, even construction team can not travel from APPA to Shamshabad!!. (This is a 10KM stretch and the workers or engineers can not move from one end, to the other. That summs up the situation!) Miles of hillocks are yet to be cut and there is no ACCESS, at all! We were able to move from Guchibowli upto APPA and then for another 2 Km, by bike, through the mud tracks used by trucks. That is all. It gets stuck there with a huge virgin hill, looking down and making a pass! We rock climbed and reached the top. What we saw was heart breaking! Unending rough terrain, yet to be touched."
"Road building can never be done overnight. It's a very lengthy process. The road width has to be excavated deep and all soil removed. It has to be replaced with red earth, layer by layer. Each layer has to be rolled and cured. The surface preparation with broken granite also happens layer by layer. There is no short cut at all. Let alone flyovers, culverts, underpasses, even plain road will not be seen in several stretches, by 2008 March."
