Steps to decongest B’lore

Steps to decongest B’lore
Deccan Herald

Finance Minister B S Yediyurappa in his 2007-08 budget announced the construction of a tunnel road between Mink’s Square and BDA point, for which he has earmarked Rs 50 crore.

Among the new proposals unveiled in the State budget is the one to put in place a tunnel technology to decongest the choked-up Bangalore roads.

Finance Minister B S Yediyurappa in his 2007-08 budget announced the construction of a tunnel road between Mink’s Square (opposite BSNL main office) and BDA point (near Windsor Manor hotel), for which he has earmarked Rs 50 crore.

The project, the details of which are yet to be worked out, has been entrusted to Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike for implementation. BBMP has constructed some road under-bridges (RUBs) using tunnel technology.

But it is for the first time that a road construction has been planned in the City using the technology.

The plan is to construct the tunnel road right below the existing road between these two points. The major advantage of this technology is that there will not be much disturbance to traffic during its implementation. The work is likely to start within four months.



Infrastructure peps

This apart, Mr Yediyurappa announced construction of nine flyovers and allocated Rs 50 crore for the purpose.

But it is not clear whether all nine projects are new ones.

To upgrade basic amenities like roads, pavements and drains in five new zones of BBMP -- Bommanahalli, Dasarahalli, Mahadevapura, Byatarayanapura and Rajarajeshwarinagar -- a sum of Rs 150 crore has been allocated at Rs 30 crore each.



800 cr for JNURM

The FM has earmarked another Rs 800 crore as the State’s share for taking up development projects under the Centre-sponsored Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JN-NURM).

Some major works proposed to be taken up under the mission are the valley project at a cost of Rs 640 crore, road improvement works around M G Road and Koramangala (Rs 99 crore) and improving drinking water facility in 110 villages in BBMP area.



172 cr for Metro

Namma metro has also figured in Mr Yediyurappa’s scheme of things and a Rs 172 crore has been earmarked as the State’s share as the project is a joint venture of the State and the

Centre.



For Cauvery

To quench the thirst of water-strapped Bangaloreans in the coming days, the FM has allocated Rs 415 crore towards implementation of the proposed Cauvery IV stage, II phase project, which is expected to pump an additional 500 mld of water.



Tumkur as satellite town?

Though Mr Yediyurappa has proposed to develop Tumkur town a satellite town of Bangalore, he has allocated just Rs 54 crore. The proposal does not speak about any specific projects in this regard.