Highway takes toll on Gowda

Highway takes toll on Gowda
CNN-IBN

New Delhi: Former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Deve Gowda has finally broken his silence on the Bangalore-Mysore infrastructure corridor project.

India’s first private road project, the corridor connecting Bangalore and Mysore will be ready within six months.

But the Karnataka government now wants to take over the Rs 2,250-crore project in open defiance of a Supreme Court order.

The Karnataka government's planning a new bill that'll help it take over the project from private hands and on Saturday Deve Gowda defended his opposition to project.

But before explaining his stance, Gowda said the state's move to bring in a legislation - that'll take ownership of the project - is not against private investments.

"We are not against private investment, we're welcoming them," he says.

Gowda says that the expressway builder, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), is asking for 2,400 acres of excess land that the project doesn't require.

Gowda fears the excess land would be used more for real estate purposes than just the road project and that’s the reason he claims Karnataka government wants to take control over the project.

Gowda says the planned legislation - the Karnataka Infrastructure Development & Land Reforms bill - will fall within the framework of the Supreme Court order and will not be contempt of court.

But the Supreme Court had earlier upheld NICE's right to press ahead with the project.

The JD (S) will move to bring in this bill in the next Assembly session that starts by the end of June.

But they'll need to win over coalition partner BJP, which is no easy task, as the saffron party is not opposed to a private player completing the infrastructure corridor.