Hyderabad, Under Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP) aimed at easing traffic congestion in Hyderabad, foundation stone was laid on Saturday for two steel flyovers to be built at a cost of Rs 426 crore.

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao laid the foundation stone in the presence of Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) will build a four-lane bi-directional elevated corridor from Indira Park to VST (2.610 km) at a cost of Rs 350 crore.

A second level three-lane bi-directional flyover will be constructed from Ram Nagar to Baghlingampally (0.850 km) at a cost of Rs 76 crore.

Both the flyovers will be made of steel and will have steel piers, steel pier caps, and steel girders with cast in-situ deck slabs.

Rama Rao said though steel bridge works cost 20 to 30 per cent more, the government decided to build steel bridges as the works can be completed faster and avoid inconvenience to road users.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said the government was committed to build skyways up to a length of 36 km at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore.

Stating that the skyway works require defence lands, he urged Kishan Reddy to use his good offices to persuade the defence ministry to hand over these lands for road development.

KTR said during the last six years, the government undertook several road improvement works in Hyderabad. SRDP works were taken up at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore

He pointed out that due to less volume of traffic on the roads during the last four months because of the lockdown, the works were expedited. He said the work which would have taken 10 months was completed in two months.

The minister said that if Hyderabad is to be developed into a global city, traffic congestion has to be eased. "Realising this, on one hand SRDP was launched while on the other Hyderabad Road Development Corporation Limited was formed to take up new link roads and missing roads. Under an innovative initiative, comprehensive road maintenance programme, 710 km length of roads were given to private parties for maintenance."

Kishan Reddy stressed the need for rising above politics and working together to improve road infrastructure in the city.

He said the population of Hyderabad was likely to grow further and hence there was a need for more roads and flyovers. Stating that investors are reluctant to go to Bengaluru because of the traffic problems there, the minister called for avoiding such a situation in Hyderabad.

Kishan Reddy called for speeding up the flyover work at Amberpet jointly undertaken by the Centre and the state government.