OTHER MAJOR PROJECTS

TUMKUR ROAD ELEVATED EXPRESSWAY
When you go along Tumkur Road, you cannot miss the work in progress to build drains and service roads on both sides. On several stretches, the roadside has been barricaded to undertake this work. The plan is to build service roads up to the Parle factory. “The trouble is, every inch we dig, we run into some pipes and cables. We have already spent some three months trying to shift them,” an NHAI official said. He hopes to finish this by July-end, “except for some 500 metres where we have land acquisition issues”. NHAI also expects to start piling work for the elevated portion next week. While the entire project spans 19.5 km, the elevated portion will be four km, starting from just beyond the Ring Road junction. “We will barricade the median before we begin piling activity,” the official said. The target is to complete the project by November 2009. The entire existing road will also be upgraded. At present, the road dips at several points. The plan is to fill up the dips and have a straighter road. Some stretches of the drain being built now seem to project substantially above the road level. But don’t worry. It’s not some engineering insanity. The road will be raised to the level of the drain by the time the project is through.
BELLARY ROAD (NATIONAL HIGHWAY-7) ELEVATED EXPRESSWAY
Anticipating an increase in traffic to BIA, the NHAI has decided to build an elevated expressway from Hebbal to Yelahanka on NH-7. An official said the NHAI has called for tenders. “The plan is to have an elevated expressway up to Yelahanka, and build flyovers at traffic junctions between Yelahanka and the international airport. We will also build service roads on both sides up to the new airport,” the official said. The target is to award the contract within the next six months, and complete the project in about two-anda-half years.
OTHER MAJOR PROJECTS
After a long flip-flop phase, the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) is back with the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). But the actual ground work for the Rs 3,000-crore project is far from being kicked off. Apart from public opposition, the PRR is also facing late clearance on the environment front. The cabinet approval (with BDA as implementors) came in June this year. A draft project report is being prepared. The BBMP’s mass-scale road-widening project — covering 91 roads — has started but worries over land acquisition and a public interest litigation admitted against it could prove speed-breakers. Though the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) model has been pursued by the BBMP to lure people into surrender their properties voluntarily, the response has not been encouraging. The satellite town ring roads (STRR) planned by the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) are among many projects that have failed to take off even after years. Delayed approval for compensation packages is one of the reasons for this.