BDA treads warily after Arkavathy

BDA treads warily after Arkavathy
To Acquire Only Vacant Spaces For Peripheral Ring Road
The Times of India

Bangalore: The BDA seems to have learnt its lesson the hard way. Taking a cue from the Arkavathy layout mess, the BDA has chosen to tread carefully.

This time, when the BDA starts acquiring land for the proposed Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project, it will not acquire the built-up structures with clear titles along the stretch and will only consider the vacant spaces.

BDA, which has issued the preliminary notification for first phase of land acquisition, will acquire 1,962 acres covering 104 villages.

Sources told The Times of India that after the Arkavathy confusion, BDA officials resurveyed all the villages falling under the PRR stretch to find out the number of buildings with clear titles. If any building comes up after the issuance of preliminary notification, it will be razed, officials explained.

Though the PRR, envisaged in the 1995 comprehensive development plan, had earmarked 80 km of alignment, now, the scene is totally different. Due to rapid urbanisation, nearly 45 per cent of the old alignment has built-up areas; at some places, it was found that the alignment was less than a km from the existing ring road. Hence, the alignment suggested by the CDP was found outdated.

When the alignment was modified, it encountered another hitch. It was found to be clashing with the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project. Of the 109 km of PRR, 41 km stretch between Tumkur Road and Hosur Road was found to be running into the BMIC project; the alignment was refixed.

According to the final project design, the PRR will run up to 110 km encompassing 104 villages. Mooted at a cost of Rs 1,190 crore, the project needs 3,700 acres of land and will be situated 6-8 km away from the existing outer ring road. The stretch runs predominantly in agricultural lands.

The eight-lane dual two carriageway will be 100 metres wide and will have a buffer zone running parallel to the entire length of the carriageway. It will also include 12 steel flyovers and underpasses at intersections. The PRR has been designed keeping the next 30 years’ traffic increase in mind in such a way that the carriageway can be expanded up to 22 lanes.

Ring roads

Implemented: The existing outer ring road, constructed by BDA, was conceived in 1964 and took nearly four decades for total implementation. The ORR was implemented in three phases: first phase between Hosur Road and Mysore Road 12.5 km; second phase between Tumkur Road and Hosur Road 37 km; third phase between Tumkur Road and Mysore Road 16 km.

In the pipeline: Core ring road to be implemented by BCC; the 24-km alignment was identified by BDA which cuts through 11 important junctions in the city and will have four-lanes.