BANGALORE
: After
nearly 10 years of delay and red tape, a privately built road that will shorten
the 139-km distance between
Bangalore
and
Mysore
, has
quietly taken off.
Work has begun on the Rs 2,000-crore
Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) — which will reduce distance by
28 km and travel time to 70 minutes. This is the first infrastructure project
built by the private sector which has taken off, even as the
Bangalore
international airport is
languishing.
Levelling and preliminary road construction
has been taken up at Sompura and Hemmigepura near Kengeri for the first 6.5 km
of the 41-km peripheral road. “Full-fledged work will start from this month-end
from both sides, including the road from Ramanahalli and Kesari villages in
Mysore
. By October, we will open the first
section in Bangalore between Banashankari VI stage and the existing Mysore road
for traffic,’’ project implementation company Nandi Infrastructure Corridor
Enterprise (NICE) managing director Ashok Kheny told The Times of India.
Financial closure for the Rs 850-crore
first phase was signed on March 29. But, unlike other infrastructure projects,
there has been no inaugural function as “we want the baby to be born first’’.
Officials, however, said the main reason
for the lack of fanfare is that the election code of conduct is in place. “Once
the new government is formed, the project will be formally announced,’’ they
added.
The plan is to complete the first phase by
August 2005 — the 41-km peripheral road linking Tumkur road (NH4) and Hosur
Road (NH7), a 9-km link road from the existing Mysore Road to the new
expressway and 12 km of expressway from both sides. This phase also included
one corporate township near Bidadi — a controversial aspect — but land for this
has not been acquired. The peripheral road is expected to take about 50 per
cent of traffic coming into
Bangalore
via
Hosur Road
and
Tumkur Road
— about 60,028 and 69,425
vehicles, respectively.
Justifying the delay, Kheny said: “Since
this is the first privately funded such project in the country, policies and
rules had to change. Unlike government agencies, we had to get clearances for
every tree cut.”
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