Outer Ring Road (ORR) project to promote Transit Oriented Development along corridors

The Hyderabad Outer Ring Road (ORR) which traverses the city connecting all major areas of the city was planned more than just as an infrastructural project. Connecting various national highways, state highways, the Inner Ring Road (IRR) as well as the proposed Regional Ring Road (RRR), it was planned primarily as a growth corridor. The concept was borrowed from similar developmental projects undertaken in the West.

TOD to facilitate increase in land prices:

The main objective of the project was to promote Transit Oriented Development (TOD) along the corridors of the ORR. Thereby, it would promote the right investors to invest in developmental projects along the growth corridor. This would in turn result in the development of surrounding areas and thereby facilitate the increase in land prices.

ORR proposed based on infrastructure inadequacy:

As early as 2005, it was felt that there was an urgent need to develop the infrastructure of the city considering the rapid strides that the city was making in terms of growth.  Due to the high rate of migration from rural areas and the advancement that the city was making in terms of growth of the IT/ITeS sector, the prevailing infrastructure of the city was found to be inadequate.

Expansion of the city limits along with development:

The need of the hour was to expand the limits of the city so that developmental activities can be more spread out that being localised in particular areas. It was in this context that the proposal to develop the ORR was put forward. Besides, extending the boundaries of the city to a large extend, the ORR also facilitated seamless connectivity across the city by linking it to all main roads. This indirectly resulted in the overall  development of areas in the vicinity of the ORR across the city.

Focus placed on intricacies:

Infrastructure development was given more emphasis and had a large impact on the  development of the realty sector along the corridors of the ORR. However, for the impact of the ORR to be felt, it was imperative that focus was placed on the intricacies of the project. This included special norms with regards to design of layouts and the allotment of residential and commercial spaces. Besides, emphasis was also placed on the development of social infrastructure like schools, colleges, health care centers, shopping facilities etc.

Growth plan on track inspite of impediments:

Contrary to the anticipated pace at which the implementation of the growth corridor plan was to be carried out, there were various impediments that were faced along the way. These included the global recession as well as the agitations with regards to the bifurcation of the state. Inspite of these hurdles, the plan is on track and in the time to come it is expected that the ORR development project when fully operational will go a long way in fulfilling the expectations of investors. Moreover, it is also expected to have a major impact on the realty sector, thereby providing a much needed fillip to suburban life in the city.

Outer Ring Road (ORR) project to promote Transit Oriented Development along corridors