Hyderabad All Set for Solar Rooftop Cycling Track in 2023

Telangana Municipal Minister K T Rama Rao has revealed that Hyderabad is all set to witness the establishment of its maiden cycle track, which will host a solar roof to employ solar panels for power generation. The construction will be on the lines of Daejeon and Sejong cycle highways in South Korea. The Minister laid the foundation stone of the cycle track that will be 23 km long and have three lanes. It will work round the clock and be equipped with CCTVs also. The new cycle track will be alongside the service road of Outer Ring Road of Hyderabad city.

KT Rama Rao also said that the solarized cycle track will be ready before summer of 2023. It will be 23 km long and 4.5 metres wide connecting Nanakramguda and TSPA circle and Narsingi and Kollur. It was informed that the solar panels employed on the rooftop will produce about 16 MW of electricity.

The track between Nanakramguda and the Telangana State Police Academy (TSPA) will be 8.5 km long and lie between Narsingi and Kollur, and be 14.5 km long.

The Minister tweeted through his official handle, “Had promised that we will develop a world-class, solar-roofed cycling track in Hyderabad. Laying the foundation tomorrow for an initial 21 KM…. Plan to deliver it before summer 2023.”

A previous statement of the government had said that Hyderabad Growth Corridor Limited (HGCL) will construct the cycle lanes. The Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) model will be employed to implement the solar project. In this model, a RESCO operator will invest the initial capital expenditure on the solar roof segment of the project and also maintain it for 25 years. The operator then supplies power to the government at a discounted price.

A team of officials of HMDA and HGCL visited South Korea for the purpose of studying the bike track project between Daejon and Sejong. Now the upcoming Hyderabad cycling track will be an improved version of the Korean model having better aesthetics. The new solar cycling track of Hyderabad will have key facilities like lighting, protection from rain, parking, food stalls etc. The new infrastructure is expected to help Hyderabad’s IT corridor where the employees could ride their bicycles to their offices.