Hyderabad: Traffic on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) has climbed sharply, and toll collections have kept pace, but the state government has refused to sanction any toll increase for the past two years, citing poor maintenance and safety lapses by the road’s operator.
According to a Times of India (TOI) report, the standoff has widened the rift between the government and ORR concessionaire IRB Golconda Expressway Private Ltd, with both sides blaming each other over accidents, sanitation and the general upkeep of the expressway.
Government sources said IRB Golconda has been pushing for annual toll revisions linked to the WPI, a norm typically applied on National Highways Authority of India roads that permits hikes of roughly 3 percent to 5 percent every April. The company submitted revision proposals in both 2025 and 2026, but the state turned down both, leaving the operator unhappy with a call it maintains is permitted under the concession framework and routinely allowed on national highways.
The dispute comes even as traffic on the 158-km expressway has surged since IRB Golconda took over under the toll-operate-transfer model in August 2023.
Daily traffic has risen from around 1.9 lakh vehicles then to 2.5 lakh now, with the company earning an estimated Rs 700 crore to Rs 720 crore a year in toll revenue. Heavy vehicles and lorries account for 45 percent of that revenue, according to IRB Golconda sources, and the company is said to be wary of future earnings given its debt load and upcoming competing corridors, including the Regional Ring Road (RRR), the Surat-Chennai corridor and the Nagpur-Vijayawada corridor, that could pull commercial traffic away from the ORR.
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy reviewed ORR-related issues on Thursday, August 6, and reportedly voiced dissatisfaction with its upkeep, directing officials to improve maintenance. This is not the first time he has flagged the concessionaire’s performance. He has previously accused the earlier BRS government of undervaluing the 30-year, Rs 7,380-crore ORR concession awarded to IRB, and has separately pushed to bring the ORR, the under-construction Regional Ring Road and the city’s other road networks under a single administrative system.
Road safety has emerged as the sharpest point of conflict. According to officials, IRB has not done enough to curb accidents, while the company says it lacks the authority to penalise illegal parking on the expressway and its service roads and blames weak enforcement by the police and the Road Transport Authority for a large share of the crashes.
Sanitation is a related issue, with IRB alleging that garbage dumped by nearby residents and, at times, municipal workers has fouled service roads and fed a growing stray dog problem, adding to its complaints over lighting and general upkeep.
HMDA, which owns the ORR, is responsible for maintaining greenery along the corridor, but residents continue to flag other civic lapses. To tackle the rising accident numbers, the state has set up a multi-departmental committee involving the police, the RTA and other agencies to recommend and implement safety measures on the expressway.
