The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) office.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Bengaluru's civic body has prepared the detailed project report (DPR) for the ambitious tunnel road project, completing the exercise in just three months against the industry standard of 9-12 months.
The six-lane tunnel road, estimated to cost Rs 16,500 crore, will connect Hebbal in the north with the Central Silk Board junction in the south. It will span 18 km and have three interchanges at Mehkri Circle, Race Course Road and Lalbagh.
The BBMP plans to deploy six TBMs, each with a diameter of 14.7 metres. Metro projects typically deploy TBMs with a diameter of six metres.
"With India-China relations getting better, we are hopeful of importing the TBMs directly from China. If this happens, the project cost will come down by 10% as European TBMs are much costlier," Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said. "We want to begin the project within six months."
BBMP Engineer-in-Chief B S Prahlad explained that the DPR had been prepared by drawing upon learnings from underground roads built in Mumbai and other cities.
"At both entry and exit points, the tunnel road will branch out to different directions to minimise traffic bottlenecks," he told DH.
According to initial information, the tunnel road will have two entry and exit points at each end: at the southern end near Central Silk Board junction (Outer Ring Road and Hosur Road sides), and at the northern end near Hebbal junction (KR Puram and Ballari Road sides).
In addition, traffic interchange points have been planned at Lalbagh, Mehkri Circle (for vehicles entering from Silk Board junction and exiting on CV Raman Road) and Race Course Road.
The project, officials say, will be taken up in public-private partnership. While the private contractor will be expected to contribute nearly 70% of the project cost, the BBMP plans to raise the remaining 30% through various financing schemes.
DH had earlier reported that the BBMP was spending Rs 9.5 crore on DPR preparation — nearly five times the Rs 1.58 crore spent by Namma Metro on a similar report for the underground metro line between Hebbal and Sarjapur Road under Phase 3A.
Experts see the tunnel road as a "band-aid solution", for it will not reduce end-to-end travel time. They instead want the state government to prioritise the the metro line along this route. There is also a belief that north-south traffic will reduce drastically once Bengaluru gets a second airport in the south of the city.