Road to Mysore on track

Road to Mysore on track
The planned expressway is gathering steam and heading towards a two-year deadline.
The Times of India


The recent Supreme Court verdict on the much-awaited Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project has given a further fillip for the project-implementing authority. Last Thursday, the Supreme Court gave the green signal to the Rs 2,850-crore (BMIC) project and has asked the government to pay the project contractor, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), Rs 5 lakhs for filing frivolous litigation.

Even while the work on the project was being carried out by NICE including the Bangalore-Bidadi stretch and peripheral road between Hosur Road and Tumkur Road in full swing, the project had hit a dead end. Simply because the State had not provided land for further development pending a Supreme Court petition.

Stating that the marathon final judgment has come as a respite and breathed life into the project, chief of NICE Ashok Kheny said, by mid-May this year, the Mysore Road-Kanakapura Road stretch will be ready and by August 15, the first phase of the project comprising the peripheral road between Tumkur Road and Hosur Road, the link road, and the expressway between Bangalore and Bidadi will be ready. However, he added that the entire project, that is, including the expressway between Bidadi and Mysore and the five townships dotted along the corridor will be ready by 2008.

NICE states that about 80 percent of the work on the first phase of the project is complete and Rs 850 crores has already been spent. It now requires 950 acres of land for the remaining part of the first phase. All that land has already been acquired by the government and only needs to be handed over to the company.

While the peripheral road is 75 metres broad, the expressway will be 90 metres broad. Every 250 metres, there are ducts provided for all utility cables, so that the road would never have to be cut for laying cables. Every 500 metres there are underpasses for people and vehicles, so that the roads do not inconvenience those who cannot pay its toll. At no point is the road gradient more than three degrees, which is of world-class standards. This feature ensures that heavy vehicles will not slow down. And everywhere, provision is being made so that the roads can be broadened in the event traffic becomes too heavy some years later.

"The government has been holding back some of these lands on the grounds that the Supreme Court verdict was awaited. Now that the verdict is in, we expect we will get all the land we are supposed to get", said a NICE spokesperson. In some places, lane markings are being carried out. In some other places, all that remains is a final coating of high-density bitumen and the lane markings. Along one stretch, high-mast lights have also been installed. At Somapura (between Mysore Road and Kanakapura Road), land for 500 metres of road was handed over just a month ago. At the junction of Mysore Road and NICE's peripheral road near Kengeri, the government is yet to hand over land for a ramp that will connect the two roads. Near Hosakerehalli (Banashankari 3rd stage), land for 300 metres of road remains to be handed over. Another similar length of road in Banashankari 6th stage remains completely undone because NICE still has no rights to it thanks to a dispute regarding whether it is social forestry land.

The final six km of the first phase of the expressway, the Bangalore-Bidadi stretch also has seen no progress because the required land has not been given by the government. At Gottigere (between Kanakapura Road and Bannerghatta Road), two stretches of 200 metres and 300 metres respectively face a similar problem.

Deadlines…
Mysore Road-Kanakapura Road stretch will be ready by mid-May this year
First phase of the project comprising the peripheral road between Tumkur Road and Hosur Road, the link road, and the expressway between Bangalore and Bidadi will be ready by August 15
Entire project including the expressway between Bidadi and Mysore, and the five townships will be ready by 2008