HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL), a wing of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), will set up solar panels along the 21-km cycling tracks which will come up on outer ring road (ORR) at a cost of Rs 88.12 crore.
The cycling tracks will be laid on the ORR stretch from Nanakramguda to Telangana State Police Academy (TSPA) and Narsingi to Kollur. The HGCL has already invited tenders and as per the proposals, the shortlisted agency will complete the project in a span of seven months.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), in collaboration with the Hyderabad Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (HUMTA) and Hyderabad city police, in September 2020, decided to construct cycle tracks in the city.
A pilot project of cycle tracks from Begumpet Metro station to Khairatabad Junction was also planned. Nodal agencies were supposed to construct 450 km-long cycle tracks of in a phased manner in Cyberabad/HiTec City, Kukatpally, Dilsukhnagar, Charminar, Mehdipatnam, Financial District, Hyderabad Knowledge Centre
and Kokapet as part of the India Cycles4Challenge under the Smart Cities Mission of the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA). However, the project could not see the light of the day.
According to highly placed sources, though the proposed cycling tracks on the arterial roads hit roadblock, the tracks which would be constructed along the ORR could be reality because of availability space and less traffic.
The project was viable because it wass planned to be implemented as a solar project by the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) model where a RESCO operator would invest total initial capital expenditure for solar panels and maintain it for 25 years, sources said added that power supply to the department would be at a discounted price.
The HGCCL would only spend a minimal amount, unlike the case on cycling tracks in the core city. Municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) officials said, “The solar panels erected on the cycling track would generate about 7 MV to 9 MV power per year.
Primarily, the solar panels will offer protection for the cyclists from sun and rain. The track will come with several facilities for cyclists including parking spaces, surveillance cameras, bicycle docking and rental station, food courts, drinking water, restrooms and basic bicycle repair shops.”
When asked about the cycling tracks in the core city, the authorities informed that the Covid-19 pandemic along with flash floods
in 2020 and 2021 delayed the project. Officials also said they were yet to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) even to take up the pilot project and it was put on hold.
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