Hyderabad, Jun 29 (IANS): The link roads being developed in Hyderabad to ease traffic congestion on the main roads are becoming a model for other cities, Telangana Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao said on Monday.

The minister said that Hyderabad Road Development Corporation (HRDC) officials are receiving calls from officials in the other cities of the country wanting to know how the link roads are being developed here.

Rama Rao said that calls have also been received from Mumbai, seeking details of the link roads plan under which a total of 133 roads are being laid.

The main aim of the programme is to ease traffic congestion on the main roads, bring down the level of pollution and provide convenience to people.

"As far as I know, no other city in the country has taken up development of link roads at this scale," said the minister, while inaugurating five new link roads laid in the Serlingampalli zone at a cost of Rs 27.43 crore.

He said under the first phase, 22 link roads were taken up at a cost of Rs 313.65 crore. Of these, 16 have already been completed, while work on the remaining six will be completed soon.

Under the second phase, 17 link roads will be developed. The work on four roads has already started at a cost of about Rs 66 crore. Another 13 roads will be taken up at a cost of Rs 232 crore. Thus, in a phased manner, 133 link roads will be developed to improve connectivity.

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, said the government took up several infrastructure projects to meet the growing needs of Hyderabad, which is expanding at a rapid pace.

He pointed out that the Strategic Road Development Programme (SRDP) has been taken up at a cost of Rs 6,000 crore for the development of roads, flyovers and underpasses.

A Comprehensive Road Maintenance Programme (CRMP) was also launched at a cost of Rs 1,800 crore for better maintenance of the existing roads.