HMDA to order quality check of solar-roofed cycling track

HMDA to order quality check of solar-roofed cycling track

Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) may order an inquiry into the construction quality of Healthway Solar Cycling Track, the solar-roofed cycling track which was built along the Outer Ring Road at a cost of over ₹100 crore.

Metropolitan Commissioner Sarfaraz Ahmed has taken a serious view of the deep cracks which developed on the track recently, and decided to order a quality check through a reputed lab.

“We are writing to the quality control agencies for assessment of quality of the cycling track, which seems to have developed splits at a location,” Mr. Ahmed informed, when asked about the cracks.

Social media is abuzz with the pictures of the wide fissures visible near the Vattinagulapally area of the cycling track which runs 23 kilometres in two stretches between Nanakramguda junction & Telangana State Police Academy junction and Narsingi and Kollur junctions.

Pictures showing remnants of the earlier repairs indicate that this is not the first time such cracks developed at the same location. Sources attribute the cracks to the existence of water pipelines underneath which may have burst due to improper packing. The HMDA has confirmed the presence of 3000 mm dia water pipelines laid by HMWS&SB under the track for 10 kilometres between Kokapet and Kollur. Mr. Ahmed said the cracks have been repaired forthwith by HGCL.

Touted as of international standards, the solar-roofed cycling track emulating its cousin in South Korea, was launched just before elections to the Legislative Assembly in October, 2023. Long stretches of greenery, rock formations and trees along the ORR service road were removed for the track which received publicity as an ‘eco-friendly’ project for its solar power potential.

The track was developed in less than five months, going by the invitation for bids which was published by the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited under the HMDA in the last week of April the same year. While the invitation mentioned the quantity of solar power to be produced from the roof at 13 megawatts, upon launch, the same was publicised as 16 megawatts. The website of the construction agency KMV Projects too pegs the generation capacity at 16MW.