Polls further delay ring road project

Polls further delay ring road project

The project aims to decongest outer ring road which now looks like any other main road in the city

Bosky Khanna. Bangalore



Lok Sabha elections have further delayed the construction of the peripheral ring road (PRR) from Tumkur Road to Hosur Road via Old Madras Road, Mysore Road and Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise road.
The PRR aims to decongest the outer ring road (ORR) which now looks like any other main road. The idea for PRR was mooted over two years ago. But till date, the project has not moved beyond the notification stage.
A senior BDA official, on condition of anonymity, said issues like tussle between land owners and land losers, government clearance, alignment, and hiring consultants were delaying the project. The Lok Sabha elections would further delay the process.
"We cannot start any work on PRR until the elections are over, as it was mentioned in the last budget. The land acquisition process was to start from April 1, but elections have delayed it. The proposal mentioned in the budget awaits government clearance,'' the official added.
Final notification for land acquisition under Phase 1 has been completed. But land acquisition process is yet to begin.
The official said the chief minister's mention of creating a road map to construct the 10-lane signal-free PRR under public- private partnership, was only for Phase 1. Phase 1 connects Bangalore north from Hosur Road to Tumkur Road across OMBR Layout, Yelahanka and Tumkur road. Under the budget, Rs700 crore has been allocated to BDA for land acquisition, which the official said was only for Phase 1. Total cost of constructing the 110-km long PRR was estimated at Rs3,000 crore.
The aim of constructing the PRR is to ease the movement of traffic on ORR and to ensure that heavy duty vehicles do not enter the city roads. The road intersects NICE corridor running towards Mysore. There were problems with this alignment also, which had delayed the project, the official said.
According to BDA's proposal, PRR will be be a brake-free, and signal-free stretch. It will link major highways and district roads, thus creating a corridor passage around the city.
There is also a proposal to construct commercial hubs and housing localities along PRR. Once the ring road is constructed, all trucks and tourist buses will ply on this stretch. Earlier, it was proposed to construct a six-lane road with service lanes on either side, but later it was revised to 10 lanes.
PRR will run through the semi-urban belt for most of the length. Hence, the BDA has proposed to construct service roads and other roads till the prime junctions. Among other proposals are construction of drainage systems, pavements, ground water recharging units, and planting trees on medians.