Road to airport still not clear

Hyderabad 15 Nov'07: Chief Minister Rajasekhar Reddy's plan to provide connectivity to the international airport at Shamshabad by March 2008 may not work.

Though he gave orders four months ago to remove hurdles in the construction of the Outer Ring Road, elevated expressway and the Inner Ring Road, nothing has happened so far.

Dr Reddy is scheduled to chair another high level review meeting on Thursday but it is not likely that things would fall in place before March, when the new airport would become operational.

Sources said that the road widening between Sangeet Theatre and Tarnaka had not moved an inch forward because of the reluctance of Railways to part with its land. It has sought a compensation of Rs 148 crores for the 2 km stretch.

Research and defense organizations coming in the 52 km IRR had agreed to give away land on lease of Rs 1 per acre per annum, but Railways insists on market value for its land.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is also lagging behind in its task of acquiring private properties and removing encroachments near Habsiguda, Mettuguda and Banjara Hills.

Though ORR authorities assured the Chief Minister that the four lane road from Gachibowli to Shamshabad would be ready by March, the work would take at least three more months.

"Despite the CM giving instructions to AP police academy to vacate all the buildings coming in the alignment of the ORR and demolish them, it has not been done," sources said.

The expressway is also behind schedule. Only 77 out of 133 piers and 327 segments out of 1,300 have been completed so far. Dr Reddy had also sought a joint drive by the police and municipal officials to solve the problem of trucks being parked blocking the construction of the six lane road below the expressway.

"However, Huda managing director Jayesh Ranjan merely wrote a letter to the traffic police, who did not bother to take any action," a senior official said.

Desi car plant, 100-storey tower stuck in power politics

Two major projects - the desi car venture by MLR Motors and the 100-storied trade tower - are bogged down by controversies even before taking off.

The State government is believed to have opposed a move by MLR Motors to accept investments from an automobile company and an airline.

Official sources told this correspondent that the government got an alert note from the Intelligence Bureau that unaccounted money belonging to a dead BJP leader was in circulation in the two companies.

There is also a question mark over the trade tower project at Manchirevula with Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy not yet deciding to award the project to the highest bidder, Reliance Energy, in the auction held on July 6.

The company, owned by Mr Anil Ambani, had offered to pay Rs 6.57 crores per acre while an Israeli firm, Elibt Medical Imaging, had offered Rs 6.10 crores.

However, Mr Anil Ambani's ties with Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav are coming in the way of the Chief Minister deciding in his favour. Dr Reddy is wary of how the Congress high command would take it.

The AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation has not moved on the project though its managing director B.P. Acharya announced on the day of auction that a Letter of Intent would be issued within a few days and the project would start in September. The corporation has not yet issued the LoI. Sources said the Chief Minister was in two minds over awarding the project and might discuss the issue with the party high command before taking a final decision. The desi car venture is facing other problems too. Sources said there were differences of opinion between the chief architects of the project, M. Lokeshwara Rao of MLR Motors and Mr B.V.R. Subbu, a big name in Indian automobile market, over mobilising finances and utilising the defunct Daewoo Motors plant at Surajpur. Mr Subbu's Crosslinks has already acquired the plant.

"We did alert MLR Motors against making wrong moves. There will no be dearth of finances for MLR Motors which can easily raise money from the market. We advised the promoters to avoid controversies that may land the project in trouble," a senior industries department official pointed out.