The Times of India 23.07.2012
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation yet to wake up to bio meet
HYDERABAD: The prestigious XI Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity is just two months away from kick-off, but the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is yet to get its act together. The result: crucial work required to provide the much-needed facelift to Hyderabad before it rolls out the red carpet for over 8,000 delegates, including several heads of state, from 194 nations, is way behind schedule.
This
despite chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy fixing May end as the deadline
for GHMC to complete the tender process and finalize contractors to
execute the works. Also, though a list of key civic repair and
beautification works was proposed a few months ago, only 20% of the work
has been completed so far thanks to GHMC's inability to wind up even
the tender process. "The only works that have begun are art works and
murals on flyovers like Telugu Thalli flyover and greenery works under
flyovers," said a senior GHMC official.
As part of the COP-11
preparation, GHMC had decided to re-carpet arterial roads leading from
the airport as well as major hotels and tourist spots to the venue -
HICC - totalling over 100 kms, in addition to correcting dividers,
repairing broken central medians and pavements by replacing tiles as
well as improving storm water drainage systems along the identified
stretches on top priority.
While poor response from contractors
has held up some drain improvement and road work tenders, especially
those costing between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore, the task of erecting
signages on 17 roads and key locations is expected to be delayed as one
of the firms that lost out on a tender has challenged GHMC's decision in
the AP high court. And while the proposed revival of 25 defunct
fountains at key locations is yet to be started, the basic work of
removing hanging cables and electricity wires, old signages, flexies, ad
boards and posters, which make the roads look ugly and pose a threat to
the motorists, has begun half-heartedly in a few locations.
The ongoing monsoons are expected to be another major dampner to GHMC
even if it does wake up at the last minute because certain jobs like
re-carpeting, painting as well as lane marking on roads cannot be taken
up during rains, especially when even slight showers are enough to leave
the city's bitumen roads ridden with potholes, as officials themselves
admit.
While GHMC chief engineer K Suresh Kumar claimed they
would complete all the work during dry spells before the COP 11 begins
on October 1 despite all hurdles, GHMC officials admit it may be too
late not only to complete all the scheduled work before September end,
but the quality of work too may not be up to the mark, sending a lot of
public money down the drain.
"Even if the tenders are finalized
now, drain improvement works will take over two months to complete.
Road works cannot be taken up now due to rains and even if roads were to
be refurbished in September just before the convention there is no
guarantee the roads would be intact because of monsoon," a senior GHMC
official said.
Even Hyderabad Metropolitan Development
Authority (HMDA), which has been sanctioned Rs 15 crore for
beautification of Necklace Road area under Budha Purnima Project
Authority is yet to wake up from its slumber and start drawing up
project estimates.
Caught napping, GHMC officials put the blame
squarely on the state government. They point out that the primary
reason for the current disarray is the inadequate funding by the state
government as well as delays in releasing the funds.
While GHMC
had sought Rs 400 crore for uplift and beautification of the city, GoAP
sanctioned a paltry Rs 125 crore and that too the funds were released
only in the first week of July. To tide over the cash-crunch, desperate
GHMC authorities are understood to have over the past couple of weeks
roped in nearly 22 corporates to sponsor beautification work like rotary
refurbishment, murals, road greening and fountains. It is also learnt
that the Centre snubbed the state government's plea for Rs 800 crore
funding for the city as it is hosting such a big ticket international
event for the first time.
GHMC commissioner MT Krishna Babu
too seems to have woken up belatedly. Sources said he held a review
meeting on COP 11 two-three days ago and asked the zonal commissioner to
finalize tenders for drain improvement works immediately, even pulling
up the engineering wing officials for shoddy work done in laying a
pipeline for underground cables on Mehdipatnam road and admonishing
officials for the cables dangling at SD Eye hospital near Masab Tank.
But this burst of enthusiasm may be a case of too little, too late. A
pity considering that this was an ideal opportunity for a T-struck
Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad in particular to put its best foot forward
and impress upon the world that it still continues to be a force to
reckon with as a global investment destination.
