‘Road works under progress’

‘Road works under progress’
Deccan Herald

The BMP and the BDA claim that work on the City’s roads has already begun. The Anand Rao Circle flyover will be ready by December 1, they point out

Bangalore infrastructure is seeing progress, if civic agencies are to be believed. Making presentations at the second high-level committee meeting on infrastructure, attended by the government and IT representatives on Saturday, the Bangalore Mahanagar Palike and the Bangalore Development Authority claimed the work on infrastructure has already begun.

Giving an update on BMP’s road upgradation work, BMP Commissioner K Jothiramalingam said that following the exemption of ten roads from the Transparency Act, work order on three roads - Airport Road, MG Road and 20th Main Koramangala - has been issued to the Karnataka Land Army Corporation (KLAC). While work on Airport Road has already begun, upgradation work on the other two roads were delayed due to rains, but will be taken up on Monday, he added. The KLAC also submitted the progress plan to the committee, giving details of the schedule which the agency will follow to complete the work on ten roads by December 15. The BMP also agreed to appoint a third-party project monitoring committee to oversee the upgradation work.

Elaborating on the Rs 146-crore World Bank-aided Karnataka Municipal Rehabilitation Programme covering 140 kms in the City, Mr Jothiramalingam said the project is divided into three packages, and the work on the first package will begin by October end. The first package, covering 28.6 kms, will include upgradation of seven roads, including 80 Feet Road, Koramangala; NR Square to Langford Road, Bannerghatta Road from Laskar Road to J P Nagar Circle; Kammanahalli Main Road to 100 Feet Ring Road, Kathriguppe Main Road, Padarayanapura Main Road from Tank Bund Road to Chord Road and Magadi Road, from Karnataka Bhavan to Sunkadakatte Road.

Meanwhile, BDA Commissioner M N Vidyashankar said the Anand Rao Circle flyover will be ready by December 1 and the Jayadeva flyover will be ready in April. He added the tenders for the Marathahalli Airport will be evaluated in November, and the construction work will be completed by July 2006.

ADOPT A FOOTPATH

Public-private partnership has now come to the footpaths. The pedestrian-friendly ‘Adopt a footpath’ scheme, that will allow private companies to invest in development of footpaths, will be introduced in seven roads - M G Road, Dickenson Road, Ulsoor Road, Brigade Road, Vittal Mallya Road, Madras Bank Road and a portion of St Mark’s Road from Madras Bank Road to Anil Kumble Circle. The three selected companies - Prestige Group, Purvankara Group and Vaswani Builders - will be responsible for laying of footpaths using high-quality tiles, construction and covering of shoulder drains, cleaning and maintenance of drains, and allowing for optic cable ducts. Work will begin on October 31, and the deadline for completion is December 15. The participating companies will work in co-ordination with civic agencies.



' CURSE RAIN'

Why are roads around Anand Rao circle still in bad shape? Curse the rains. The BDA can take up repair works only when the City receives ‘48 hours of sunshine’. This was the reply by BDA Commissioner Vidyashankar when a committee member commented on the condition of roads near the Anand Rao circle.