Elevated flyover, metro for B’lore soon

Elevated flyover, metro for B’lore soon

Hindustan Times

FOR THOUSANDS of techies in the country’s Silicon Valley, the drive to workplace will soon get better. On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will flag off a Rs 450crore dream venture that will ease traffic woes in the IT capital and reduce travel time and fuel consumption by 30 per cent.

The ten-km elevated “Hitech” flyover to Electronics City, the IT hub on Bangalore’s outskirts, will be the first of its kind in the country. At a dizzying 17 metres (56 feet) from the ground, the four-lane flyover will be Bangalore’s highest. It will be constructed in 24 months by a Hyderabad-based consortium comprising of Soma Enterprises-Nagarjuna Construction Company and Maytas (a group company of Satyam Computers) on BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis. The consortium will recover the cost through toll charges.

The road beneath the elevated highway will be turned into a six-lane pass to ease traffic on the Bangalore-Hosur sector. The original plan envisaged a Rs 760-crore joint venture of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the Karnataka government and the Electronics City Industries Association (ECIA). “Construction will start soon. The UPA government has given its approval for the project, thus fulfilling a long pending request of the state government and IT entrepreneurs,” K.H. Muniyappa, Union minister of state for shipping, road transport and highways, told a news conference here on Thursday.

The PM will also unveil the foundation stone of the 33-km Bangalore Metro Rail venture. The Rs 6,395 crore mass transit system will further ease traffic congestion on the city’s roads. There are about 2.5 million vehicles in Bangalore now, which includes 1.5 million two-wheelers.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) will be entrusted with the project along with equity participation by the central and state governments and a Rs 1,600 crore soft loan from the Japan Bank of International Corporation (JBIC). The seven-km first phase of the mega project would be ready by 2009, Muniyappa said.

The prime minister will also unveil the foundation stone of the Rs 4,900-crore ONGC petrochemical complex in the 460acre special economic zone (SEZ) in Mangalore on Friday. The project will be the first of its kind for ONGC, which operates the 9 million tonne Mangalore Refinery Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL). The project is scheduled for completion by 2009-10.

First of its kind 10 kilometres Length:

17 metres Height: Cost: Rs 450 crore Time frame: 24 months Builders: Hyderabad-based consortium comprising of Soma Enterprises-Nagarjuna Construction Company and Maytas (a group company of Satyam Computers)