Part of BMIC peripheral road to be ready in a few weeks

Part of BMIC peripheral road to be ready in a few weeks

The Hindu

Entire road project likely to be completed by July, says NICE


Bangalore: The Peripheral Road, linking the national and State highways around the city and part of the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project, is likely to be completed by July. The southern portion between Tumkur Road (National Highway 4) and Hosur Road (National Highway 7) may be ready by February end.

Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Managing Director Ashok Kheny announced this on Thursday during a presentation to the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI).

"We wanted to take up only the southern portion of the peripheral road and leave the rest to the Government. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has chosen to build a road of its own all around the city, parallel to our road by barely 250 metres in some places," he said.

The original plans of BMIC have been modified for the central median on the Peripheral Road to have a monorail and if approved it could also be a high-speed link to the international airport at Devanahalli.

"There can also be a monorail along the expressway to Mysore. It can have hybrid coaches running up to speeds of 200 kmph; which means you can travel to Mysore in just under 45 minutes," Mr. Kheny said.

The Peripheral Road itself can reduce traffic congestion within the city by close to 40 per cent on the areas close to it, he said. Those now travelling on Outer Ring Road, Bannerghatta Road and Hosur Road, for instance, towards Electronics City can avoid city road and take the Peripheral Road, reducing travel time by at least half.

"Those now commuting to Electronics City may be spending 25 per cent of their working hours on travel alone and the information technology firms there can easily calculate the productive man hours lost," Mr. Kheny said.

The NICE estimates about time and fuel savings were based on actual surveys made over a long period on the stretch of Bannerghatta Road between Meenakshi Temple and IIM-Bangalore. Here almost 45,000 passenger car units (PCUs) passed each hour during peak hours.

Whether the Government or private sector did it, infrastructure is necessary to sustain Bangalore's growth and to spread some of the investment to other centres between the city and Mysore, he said.

The townships planned along BMIC will help decongest the suburbs by being self-contained and be connected fast enough to the city.

The other additions to the BMIC expressway will be a bus terminal on the Outer Ring Road and a truck terminal. The bus terminal can help in reducing travel time and fuel and the transport organisations using it could have a competitive fare structure.

For decongesting the central areas of the city, trade bodies can take up the idea of a infrastructure cess on all new vehicles registered and earn around Rs. 500 crores a year and use it for acquiring land to widen roads but this may not be welcomed by all, Mr. Kheny added.