With CRMP on hold, monsoons could bring back potholes for city commuters

People scramble for cover as sudden showers lashed Hyderabad on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR

Monsoons are around the corner, when the city’s best roads could give in under the stress of incessant rains and water stagnation. The threat of potholes and bad patches looms large for the city’s commuters, with the State government sitting on the proposals for comprehensive road maintenance programme (CRMP).

Three months have passed since the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has submitted the proposals for extension of CRMP for five more years, after approval by the standing committee. The government is yet to take a decision on the same.

The CRMP involves participation of private agencies in the road maintenance, which has yielded good results since introduced in 2019-2020. The fresh proposals included more road length than before, and proportionate cost escalation by 50%.

During Phase-I of CRMP, over 800 kilometres of major city roads were given out for private maintenance, at an initial estimated cost of ₹1,827 crore for a five-year period, starting from 2020. Though de-silting of stormwater drains, sanitation and greenery too were included in the proposals, the de-silting component was later removed, and mechanical sweeping was included which brought down the expenditure.

Officials from the GHMC inform that the final spending on the CRMP Phase-I turned out to be only ₹1,300 crore. However, the fresh proposals cleared by the standing committee place two options before the government.

The first option is to bring 744.22 kilometres of road length under CRMP with a total outlay of ₹2,491 crore for the coming five years. Alternatively, the road length may be enhanced to 1142.54 kilometres with a cost estimate of ₹3,825 crore for five years.

“We have included important approach roads apart from the major thoroughfares in the enhanced road length,” an official informed. Besides, the proposals also include de-silting of the stormwater drains and maintenance of greenery, which add up to the cost, he said.

The earlier plan involved re-carpeting of 50% of the roads in the first year, 30% in the second year, and 20% in the third. The last two years involved only maintenance of the roads. A few of the contracts came to a close by 2024 year-end, while a couple of others expired in the last week of January.

This time, the first two years will include maintenance of the old roads plus re-carpeting of the roads newly taken up, the official informed. Milling and re-carpeting of the old roads would begin from third year, he said.

With both the given options portending gaping hole in the treasury pockets, the government is still to take any decision on the proposals. While the Phase-I of CRMP was carried out with the help of borrowings which the GHMC is still paying off, this time, funding has been sought from the government.