25 pc cost escalation in Tagore Circle underpass

25 pc cost escalation in Tagore Circle underpass
Bangalore: Jan 19, DHNS

The project cost of the controversial Tagore Circle underpass in Basavanagudi is learnt to have escalated from Rs 22 crore to about Rs 28 crore.

Sources in the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said, the cost of the project has gone up by almost 25 per cent, barely three months after the work began. Sources said the cost had increased at a time when the work had come to a grinding halt.

The escalation is attributed to the acquisition of private land to accommodate four lanes, service roads and footpaths on both the sides of the road. The increase in the width of the underpass has also increased the cost inputs.

More buildings to go

Sources said the fallout of the underpass project would not be restricted just to Tagore Circle. Several residential buildings on K R Road and from Basavanagudi police station to Jayanagar might have to go.

Meanwhile, traffic expert M N Srihari also believes that the project cost would not remain the same in the new scenario, where the BBMP plans to acquire private properties and part of the M N Krishna Rao Park.

It may be recalled that when the project was designed in 2006, the cost of the project was somewhere around Rs 13.5 crore. But when the implementation of the project began in 2009, the cost of the project shot up to Rs 22 crore.

C R Gopinath, a retired deputy general manager of Hindustan Aeronautical Limited, who is fighting against the project said, he would not be surprised if the cost goes up to Rs 28 crore to Rs 30 crore by the time it is completed. He also did not rule out the possibility of further price escalation in the event of delay in the completion of the project.