Gurugram civic body likely to start infrastructure uplift of South City 2 from Thursday

The development comes in the backdrop of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar laying foundation stone for enhancing road, stormwater and sewerage infrastructure in South City 2.

The South City 2 residents’ six-month wait for an uplift of the civic infrastructure may finally come to an end on Thursday when the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is expected to initiate work on upgrading roads, stormwater and sewerage drains, officials said.

uplift of the civic infrastructure may finally come to an end on Thursday when the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) is expected to initiate work on upgrading roads, stormwater and sewerage drains in South City 2 (HT FILE)

The development comes in the backdrop of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar laying the foundation stone for enhancing road, stormwater and sewerage infrastructure in South City 2 from the PWD rest house in Civil Lines on Wednesday morning. This was one of the eight projects he launched remotely before proceeding to Palwal for the statewide tour, Jan Ashirwad Yatra, ahead of the assembly elections due in October.

MCG chief engineer Raman Sharma said tenders for initiating work have been allotted to contractors and work will commence on Thursday.

“We have allocated tenders for a cumulative sum of ₹6.7 crore to private contractors for upgrading civic infrastructure in South City 2. The state government has also approved the tenders and all formalities are complete. Laying the foundation stone was a precursor to the MCG starting work. We will commence on-ground work from Thursday itself,” Sharma said.

MCG officials said that of the Rs. 6.7 crore sanctioned, Rs. 6 crore would be spent on repairing and relaying new roads in the colony. The rest will be spent on fixing the drains.

South City 2 was one of the five privately developed colonies—along with Palam Vihar, South City 1, Nirvana Country, Sushant Lok 1—that the MCG was directed to take over by the Haryana government in February. While all the other colonies were taken over five months ago, South City 2 was stuck in a limbo due to a legal dispute.

Prior to handing over, the developer of each of the colonies had the option to fix the civic deficiencies themselves or pay the monetary sum to the MCG for the work. Unitech, the developer of South City 2, had opted to pay ₹23.52 crore by attaching movable and immovable assets. However, soon after the MCG found that a ₹11.76-crore transferred property was embroiled in a legal dispute due to which the transfer has been in limbo for six months.

On Wednesday, MCG officials said the developer, Unitech, had paid the remaining Rs. 11.76 crore earlier this month, paving the way for civic transfer and delivery of services to commence.

Representatives from Unitech did not respond to repeated calls and messages from HT for comment on the matter. Residents, meanwhile, expressed relief at the development.

“We have been eagerly awaiting MCG’s takeover of the colony as the infrastructure has been in a dilapidated state for nearly a decade. We want the MCG to start the work before the state elections are announced to ensure work does not get hampered by the model code of conduct,” South City 2 RWA president Dr SN Bhardwaj said.

As per MCG’s deficiency assessment report of 2017 for South City 2, roads have not been re-carpeted in the colony in almost eight years, the sewerage drains were found to be broken and the stormwater drains clogged with heavy silt deposition. In addition, the report also highlighted that green belts and parks were not developed as per the building plan.

South City 2 is spread across 210 acres in sectors 49 and 50 along Sohna Road and the Golf Course Extension Road. There are around 3,000 plots in the colony where roughly 14,000 people live. Construction commenced in 1998 and possession was given from 2000 onwards, as per the RWA officials.