Skydeck project to cost Rs 400-500 crore: DK Shivakumar

Bengaluru: The Skydeck project to build the city’s tallest tower will cost the government an estimated Rs 400 to Rs 500 crore, revealed Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

While the initial idea was to take up the project on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, DKS on Saturday, said that they now wanted the government to fund the complete project and a proposal regarding the same will be placed before the cabinet soon.

As for the location, the government had checked out close to 10 locations for the project but none of them could be selected owing to traffic problems and the authorities have now decided to build the tower close to NICE road. 

“In a few locations, HAL, Air Force, and Defence took objection to building a tower. A few other locations had to be dropped since they could cause traffic issues in the area. We need at least 25 acres of land since we also need to provide parking. Now, based on the suggestion by the leader of the Opposition R Ashoka, we have finalised a location near NICE Road,” DKS said. 

The tower is expected to be a major tourist attraction in the city. He added that they also want to propose metro connectivity between Kengeri and Electronic City. 

Cauvery Stage V to be operational from Aug 20

The much-awaited Cauvery Stage V project which aims to provide water supply to 110 villages in the city’s periphery is likely to begin operations by August 20. “The trials are going on. I was hoping to start operations by August 15. However the officials have requested for more time and we have pushed it to August 20” Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said.

Traffic cops to dispose of abandoned vehicles

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said that the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP)  will be given a free hand to decide how they want to dispose of the abandoned vehicles lying on the streets of Bengaluru. While the police have been moving the abandoned vehicles to scrap yards and auctioning them the process has been taking a long time. The BTP will be given complete control over the process they want to adopt to dispose of such vehicles he said.