First phase to cover 10 kms of the total 42 kms

Mysuru: The 42-kilometre-long Ring Road laid at a cost of Rs.320 crore is now riddled with potholes and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has come forward to asphalt the road. In the first phase, 10 kms of the stretch from the junction near Narayana Hrudayalaya to Hinkal Flyover would be asphalted including the service roads on either side for which Rs.15 crore has been sanctioned and e-tender has been invited.

The last date to submit the tender is Nov.14 and the work order will be issued to the contractor after Nov.15. The work would begin in the third week of November and completed within a month, according to officials concerned who disclosed that a proposal with Detailed Project Report has been submitted to the NHAI Central Office in New Delhi regarding asphalting the remaining 32-km of the road.

The Ring Road project, started in 2003 and completed in 2016, enables heavy vehicles coming from Bannur, T. Narasipur, Nanjangud, H.D. Kote and Hunsur to go to Bengaluru without entering Mysuru city. The project, undertaken under the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) scheme, was supported by State Government and Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). 

As it is mandatory to re-asphalt any road once in three years, the work has been taken up now necessitated by umpteen potholes on the road. Though the Ring Road was developed by MUDA, maintaining that was a problem and hence the responsibility was transferred to NHAI as the road was connecting National Highways. Only the streetlights on Ring Road are maintained jointly by MUDA and MCC as NHAI does not have funds to be sanctioned under this category.