Plans afoot for street lighting on ORR

The Hindu  July31, 2010

Apart from taking into consideration a proposal to allow private buses between Gachibowli Junction and Shamshabad Junction on the Outer Ring Road (ORR), authorities have initiated the exercise of setting up street lighting and landscaping the stretch that has already been made available for use.

The suggestion on allowing private buses to ply between the two junctions was made during a meeting of the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) for Hyderabad Region and the ORR authorities say the same was put for consideration and necessary action.

The idea happens to be planning stops for such a bus service on the service roads and not on the main ORR stretch and officials say they were waiting for installation of signage on the stretch before going ahead with it.

For provision of lighting on the road from Gachibowli till Andhra Pradesh Police Academy (APPA) junction, necessary proposals were sent to the Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) and approvals obtained. The same is to be taken up along with greenery, landscaping and what is called vertical landscaping at a total project cost of around Rs.30 crore, according to the officials.

LANDSCAPING

ORR Project Director Siddharth Jain informs that the services of noted landscape expert Kishore Pradhan were being roped in to provide the necessary designs. Mr. Pradhan and his team have been behind some major projects including the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority's Public Park and Traffic Island at Juhu in Mumbai.

The design will pertain to median with proper landscaping, rotaries and taking care of the rocks.

“The design will be modern yet blending with the traditional and Hyderabadi touch,” Mr. Jain says. For the installation of streetlights, the stress on choice will be on energy efficiency and energy saving, he adds.