The city of Hyderabad towards Prosperity - BY NITHIN REDDY MEKALA

BY NITHIN  REDDY MEKALA


Hyderabad is all set to focus on a new realty. The residents of Hyderabad are now the residents of the second largest city in the country, next only to the national capital, New Delhi. Recent order issued by the Government for merger of 12 surrounding municipalities with the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. GHMC is the new governing body constituted for creating Greater Hyderabad. The new urban agglomeration, sprawls across 625 square km with a population of 67 lakh. Until now Hyderabad had a population of 55 lakh living in an area of 259 sq km. The erstwhile city of the Nizams has now transformed into an area greater than Mumbai, Chennai and of course Bengalooru. Mumbai, however, will have a larger population than Hyderabad. The 12 municipalities —L B Nagar, Gaddiannaram, Uppal Kalan, Malkajgiri, Kapra, Alwal, Quthbullapur, Kukatpally, Serilingampalli, Rajendranagar, Ramachandrapuram and Patancheru — now stand abolished and merged into Greater Hyderabad which will have a single corporation The GHMCBesides launching it into the league of the fastest growing metros in the country, the establishment of Greater Hyderabad will facilitate improved and high standard of civic services, provide better civic administrative mechanism, ensure better planning and focused development of the mega city, achieve more equitable devolution of finances and utilisation of resources, ensure uniform enforcement and make the city internationally competitive with worldclass infrastructure and Rs 28,000 crore drawn from the Centre, state government and through public-private partnership, the projects that would be taken up by the new corporation include Outer Ring Road (Rs 5,000 crore); sewerage system (2,000 cr); storm water drains (500 cr); elevated express highway (500 cr); bus rapid transit system (500 cr); Hyderabad international airport (1,500 cr); and special package for old city (2,000 cr) according to Govt sources.
HUDA which is has been chosen as vehicle to accomplish Hyderabad a place with possibilities… infinite.Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) is all set in carrying out the task acts as multifunctional agency with role of Planner, Controller and Coordinator of various infrastructure, design and development of projects.HUDA has announced various projects for urban infrastructure and Environmental Protection Most prominent ones are:

Housing: Rajiv Swagraha Project for urban lower and middle class families.Integrated Satellite Townships costing Rs3500 crores at Tellapur, Rs 400 crores near the financial district along the ORR is first of its kind project with work, residential, commercial, entertainment, recreation spaces and essential services. Similar projects are proposed at Srinagar, in 600 acres and Uppal, in 800 acres. HUDA is developing 20 satellite townships in the vicinity of the Corporate hubs viz Jawahar Nagar, Budwel, Srinagar, Koheda etc. to provide high-end housing facilities to the many Indian and foreign professionals who have made Hyderabad their home.

Transportation:Outer Ring Road: The 163 kms long ORR is a multilane express highway that will not only link the upcoming international airport with Gachibowli, High-tech City and the financial district, but create orbital linkage to 32 radial roads as will, form the core City.P V Narasimha Rao Express Highway: This Super Corridor eases the international Airport bound tragic on the fast lanes of the ORR. On the completion, it will the longest flyover in the country, measuring 11.63 kms. With a 4 lane elevated divided carriageway of 2 lanes on either side, it has a design speed of 80-100 kmps.Flyovers: 9 Completed flyovers and 3 upcoming ones in the busy areas of the City have facilitated the easy flow of people and vehicles without causing traffic bottlenecks.Radial Roads Project: it is a 32-road network covering the entire city, connecting the Growth Centres, industrial Parks, satellite Townships, the ORR and potential regional centres.

Commercial BuildingsIntegrated Bus Terminus & Business Centre: To decongest the busting Secunderabad railway Station area HUDA has a blueprint that includes the building of a flyover, twin towers to accommodate a retail shopping centre, 65 bus stands, covered and open parking areas in a vast 10 acres spread!

Corporate infrastructure:Calibre SEZ for IT and ITES sectors is being established with the coordination of the Dept. of IT&C, in over 125acres at Kokapet, near the financial district, HUDA Golden Mile and the Hyderabad international IT ParksPentagon, an IT and commercial hub suitable for IT/ITES companies, MNCs and large corporates, is coning at Poppalguda near Gachibowli in a 200 acres’ layout. Giga City, IT and knowledge destination spread over 2000 acres at Jawahar Nagar near Secunderabad Cantonment will have corporate commercial, educational & residential zones.Hotel Corridor150 acres at Shamshabad, next to the International Airport have been earmarked for Regal Broadway, an exclusive corridor for star and budget hotels.Health corridor200 acres at Ameenpur, have been identified for Elixir City , which will house medical institutes of global standards, as part of the State Government’s efforts t make the City the hub of medical tourism.

Environmental Protection:Urban Forestry: HUDA has been actively new Green Belts such as gardens and colony parks e.g. Lumbini Park, NTR Garden, Sanjeevaiah Park, Indira Park, KBR Park etc. as part of its Urban Forestry Initiative. In just a few years, the City’s green cover has gone up to 4.5% to 26%! HUDA’s Green Hyderabad environment Programme is bringing an additional 12,100 hectares under green cover.Eco Consciousness: Strict rules have been enforced to prohibit the use of harmful plastic products by the public in general and shopkeepers, manufacturers in particular. Littering of lakes, gardens and public places has also been made a punishable offence.
Lake Treatment and ConservationHUDA is taking up the restoration and redevelopment of Hussainsagar with aid from the Japan Bank for international Cooperation at an estimated cost of Rs.370 crores. The 200 year old Mir Alam Tank has been restored and beautified by HUDA with STP ad a drainage system. A world class underground aquarium is also a part of the master plan. Apart from this, over 10 hectors of water spread area covering 170 lakes is sought to be treated and conserved by HUDA under its Lake Restoration and Conservation Project.Hyderabad on World Property ListTo get some perspective, this burgeoning city with its 80 lakh people spread over 230 sq km will now be a gigantic 630 sq km city, three times larger, and will extend to 54 mandals located in five districts. Metropolitan Mumbai is by comparison about 427 sq km.What does all this mean for us? The future city could grow in different ways: there could be minicities like Cyberabad spread all over the state; or to optimize resources there could be special zones for housing, manufacture, entertainment and so on. It could also be a combination of both or a completely new city plan. At present, city planning agencies are being sought to assist in the master plan. Just imagine what this could do to the options of the citizens while planning their future property. This huge landmass now envelopes 16 mandals of Hyderabad, 10 of Medak, 22 of Rangareddy, 2 of Mahboobnagar and 4 of Nalgonda. While all these areas may seem like distant suburbs right now, they could very quickly metamorphose into beautiful suburban cities. In the best-case scenario, this will lead to balanced development of infrastructure, better integration of development projects, attract more investment, enable planned jurisdiction of the outer ring road belts, and facilitate better access to institutional funding for a higher level of development. And all this can dramatically impact your future real estate purchases.


Indian cities placed in order of growth in real estate rentals across the world in 2006Mumbai (50.2%) 2nd in orderDelhi (33.3%) 3rd in orderBangalore (25%) (In top 12)Hyderabad (23.1%) (In top 12)The world’s most expensive industrial real estate is the area around London’s Heathrow Airport, followed by Me’ouyan Soreq in Israel and Tokyo.-Cushman and Wakefield’s Annual Report on Industrial Space