Red tape can be deadlier: Kheny

Red tape can be deadlier: Kheny
The Times of India

Bangalore: How long does it take to cover the distance between Bangalore and Mysore? Given the present road conditions, most of us would take about 3-3 1/2 hours. But ask NICE chairman Ashok Kheny and you may hear “87,600 hours and still counting!”

Perhaps, in the last one year since the Cong-JD (S) combine came to power, the number of bumps NICE faced on the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project can easily outnumber those it faced in the previous nine years.
“I am now aware that I am alone, in my birth, in my death and while I am fighting this battle,” Kheny said after the HC verdict on Tuesday.

The Times of India had a conversation with Kheny on the road ahead. Excerpts:

On the immediate priorities:
Now the government may delay the project using red tape. A day’s work can now take three weeks. We are exploring legal recourse to see that work moves fast. Our immediate priority is to get back the land that was withdrawn after the K.C. Reddy Committee report.
On the financial front, we are meeting ICICI and others this week to update them about the project and looking at expediting the release of funds.

On the controversy with NHAI’s Road on stilts over Hosur Road:
With our project, the road on stilts will be redundant.The government can save Rs 400 crore and utilise it for other developmental purposes.

On project deadlines: We are making all arrangements to speed up work and set December end as the deadline for completing the 9-km link road, 41-km peripheral road and the 13-km expressway (up to Bidadi). Once this is done, then people will realise the benefits.

On time lost: If there were no roadblocks, we would have built new houses for villagers of Sompura with piped water by now; jobs would be created by the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association project; the truck terminals near Jindal on Tumkur Road and Electronic City on Hosur Road would also be ready.

On the lessons learnt: The most important message to businessmen investing in the country is that it is not necessary to cater to the politicians and bureaucrats and thereby take a back-street to get their projects implemented.