Hyderabad News | KTR slams Musi River project’s cost escalation

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party working president K T Rama Rao (KTR) on Sunday raised concerns over an allegedly three-fold cost escalation in the Musi River beautification project, questioning the Congress-led government’s calculations and intentions.

Initially estimated at Rs 50,000 crore, the project’s cost was later revised to Rs 70,000 crore, and now it has been raised to a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crore, he alleged.

In a statement on Sunday, KTR noted that the previous Telangana government had completed 100 per cent sewerage treatment at a cost of Rs 3,866 crore and planned the rejuvenation, beautification, and development of the Musi River at an estimated cost of Rs 16,634 crore, including an expressway from Outer Ring Road (ORR) West (Manchirevula) to ORR East (Pratapa Singaram).

He questioned the significant increase in project costs, raising doubts about the current government’s calculations and intentions.

KTR posed key questions that remain unanswered by the government: How many farmers will benefit from the Musi project? What is the storage capacity in TMCs?, How many acres will come under irrigation? What will be the increase in crop yield? What industrial needs will be met? How many new large reservoirs will be constructed?

KTR also questioned Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s preference for the Musi project over the Palamuru-Ranga Reddy project, which is in its final stages. He raised concerns about the strategy of transforming the Musi into a river akin to London’s Thames, potentially neglecting other irrigation projects that could be completed with less budget and effort.

KTR alleged that the tripling of Musi project’s estimated expenditure is evidence of financial mismanagement.

He insisted that while the Musi project is necessary and should be completed promptly, corruption or misuse of funds will not be tolerated.