Road widening on select stretches

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Road widening on select stretches
Deccan Herald

Will broad roads soon be a reality? On some chosen stretches, it looks like it will.

Road widening works have finally begun on several stretches on Hosur Road, Palace Road, Sheshadri Road and Bellary Road, a year after BMP created a dedicated road widening division to implement the works. Using the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) scheme, the BMP has targetted these four roads to “set an example” and prove that TDR could work as an instrument for road widening.

The old compound walls have been demolished and new ones, shifted to a distance of over a metre, are being constructed at National Dairy Research Institute, Baldwins Boys High School and its neighbouring playground on Hosur Road. Meanwhile, compound walls have been shifted at Maharani’s College, Home Science College and Directorate of Technical Education building on Sheshadri and Palace Roads.

“We have chosen these four roads as they run mainly on government land. We are experimenting the TDR scheme on these roads to build confidence in TDR and prove that road widening can help the public in the long run,” said a senior official in the BMP.

However, the compound walls have been demolished haphazardly, and the road widening division of the BMP still seems clueless about the alignment.

“The alignment and the map have not been finalised. Works are on at those stretches where the property owners have offered to accept TDR. The TDR system mandates the land owner to demolish any construction on the land before handing it over to BMP. We do not know when the widening works will be over, this will depend on how swiftly property-owners respond to the TDR scheme,” revealed Chennaiah, Executive Engineer, Road Widening Division, BMP.

A M Ranganath, Chief Engineer (Projects) revealed that BMP will call for tenders for road widening work in the first week of May.

“The tendering process will be completed in six months’ time, by which time we expect more people to opt for the TDR scheme,” Ranganath said.

IN FOCUS

Hosur Road

Palace Road

Sheshadri Road

Bellary Road