The State government is working on a plan to build a tunnel ring road around the City to decongest the capital. A US-based company is likely to give a presentation on the project to the government in a fortnight.
The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) will coordinate with the company representatives, said Bengaluru Development Minister K J George on Tuesday.
Besides, the company also has a plan to build two tunnel roads to connect the underground ring road. These roads will pass through the centre of the city, intersecting each other.
The project will be executed on the public-private partnership model, depending on the feasibility study, said George. The minister refused to divulge more details, saying that the project is still in the preliminary stage.
The erstwhile BJP government, too, had planned a similar project back in 2010, but nothing concrete emerged.
The BDA’s plan to build a Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) has failed to take off due to problem’s associated with land acquisition.
The PRR, conceived a decade ago, was planned to connect six roads, Tumakuru road, Hosur road, Doddaballapur road, Ballari road, Old Madras road and Sarjapur road.
The project is estimated to cost Rs 9,600 crore and will need about 1,800 acres. The minister said the government is also looking into a proposal to implement monorail project in the City.
Bad roads: BJP blamedGeorge blamed the previous BJP governments for the bad condition of roads in the City. He said a proper repair of roads was last done in 2008.
The BJP governments between 2008 and 2012 had completely neglected roads. Partial repair was done in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15. The BJP was holding the reins of power at the BBMP between 2010 and 2015, he added.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took the decision to repair roads during his city rounds. But it was delayed due to the recently concluded BBMP elections and rains.
The government has decided to spend Rs 1,200 crore for this purpose. The State Cabinet has recently given its nod to take up repair works at the cost of Rs 789 crore in the first phase, he added.
Potholes“Priority will be given for filling potholes. Repair will be taken up later. The contractors have been asked to do a quality work. Strict action will be taken against the contractors and the officials concerned if the work is found to be sub-standard. The errant contractors will be blacklisted” George warned.
Asked about people protesting against bad roads in Whitefield, the minister said the problem was due to digging of road by the BWSSB.
A contract has been given for restoring the dug-up roads. Besides, many roads in Whitefield are narrow.
The BBMP is holding talks with an IT company on acquiring land for widening of roads, he added.