NICE expects State to begin transfer of land for project

NICE expects State to begin transfer of land for project

The Hindu

The Supreme Court has dismissed the State Government's appeal


BANGALORE: Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) is expecting the State Government to commence transfer of land for the BMIC project with immediate effect.

A spokesperson for NICE told The Hindu that the company hoped that the State Government would begin the process on its own in the wake of the dismissal of its appeal in the Supreme Court on Thursday. The Government, in its appeal, had sought review of the Supreme Court's April 20 order directing it to proceed with the Rs. 2,250-crore project.

The spokesperson said the Government was in possession of about 900 acres and it could immediately hand it over for the project. Secondly, the Government should issue the final notification immediately for acquiring the remaining 13,000 acres. Preliminary notification had already been issued. The Government was committed to transferring 20,193 acres to NICE. Of this, only about 7,000 acres had been transferred to it. The company would write to the Government if it did not act in the next few days, the spokesperson said.

The company hoped that the Government would give top priority to the transfer of the land near Gottigere lake for the early completion of the Mysore Road-Hosur Road section of the peripheral road it was building as part of the phase 1 of the project. The road, when ready, would reduce the traffic load on Hosur Road.

The spokesperson said the 41-km peripheral road connecting Hosur Road to Tumkur Road via Bannerghatta Road, Mysore Road and Magadi Road would be ready in two months if land was handed over to NICE immediately. The State Government was yet to transfer more than 10 blocks of land to NICE. The entire BMIC project, including 111-km expressway to Mysore, would be ready by 2008 if the Government cooperated with NICE, the spokesperson said. The Phase 1 of the project included the peripheral road, the 9.1 km link road to connect the city centre to the peripheral road and a 12-km stretch of the 111 km expressway up to Mysore.

The roads were being built on BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) basis and would be handed over to the State Government after 30 years. The roads were to be tolled at Re. 1 a km per passenger car unit (PCU).

The NICE spokesperson said the company had spent Rs. 850 crore out of the total expected expenditure of Rs. 1,350 crore for the first phase. NICE had been granted permission to build five townships along the expressway each with a population of one lakh to realise part of the expenditure incurred in building the roads.