- Land acquisition for Mysuru-Kushalnagar Economic Corridor from next month
- Mysuru-Bengaluru 10-lane Highway will be completed in 24 months from now
Mysore/Mysuru: Land acquisition for the Mysuru-Kushalnagar Economic Corridor Expressway Project from Paschimavahini in Mysuru till Kushalnagar in Kodagu along the existing Mysuru-Madikeri National Highway (NH)-275 will begin next month, said Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha.
Addressing a press conference at Pathrakarthara Bhavan in city this morning, the MP said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had approved the project long back and after necessary ground work, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has prepared the land alignment and land required for the project.
The road has a design length of 93 kilometres and bypasses have been proposed having an aggregate length of 84 kilometres at Kushalnagar, Periyapatna, and combined bypass for Hunsur, Bilikere and Mysuru. It is a four-lane corridor that directly connects Bengaluru with Madikeri, bypassing Mysuru. The 115 km-long Expressway costing Rs. 6,000 crore is a centrally-funded project and is executed by NHAI.
The Expressway will connect Madikeri with Bengaluru bypassing Suntikoppa, Kushalnagar, Periyapatna, Hunsur and even Mysuru city by touching the Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway (which is getting converted into a 10-lane Highway) at Paschimavahini near Srirangapatna. The Expressway will have a road median and the alignment for the new corridor has been done. The Expressway will reduce the journey time between Madikeri and Bengaluru to five hours from existing seven hours.
The MP said that the existing four-lane road between Mysuru and Madikeri (NH-275) has reached a saturation point and there is an urgent need to build a separate road. Travelling on the existing Highway is a nightmarish experience especially during weekends and holidays when thousands of vehicles move between Mysuru and Madikeri, a hill station, he added.
“It will be a 14-metre wide road. Rs.6,000 crore has been set aside for land acquisition only and the project will use 25 percent of the existing roads, 40 percent Government land and the remaining 45 percent land will be purchased from private parties. A dedicated office for land acquisition ‘Special Land Acquisition Officer and Competent Authority (Mysuru-Madikeri Section) NH-275’ has been set up at No.984, First Floor, Geetha Road, Chamarajapuram, in city,” he added.
10-lane Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway
On the 118-km Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway that is being upgraded to a 10-lane highway including four service roads on either sides of the six-lane main carriageway, Pratap Simha said that from Bengaluru-side, 35 percent of the road works have been completed and from Mysuru-side, seven percent of the works have been completed,.
NHAI has taken up the core works at an estimated cost of Rs. 7,400 crore and once the project is realised, commuters between Bengaluru and Mysuru can travel the distance in just about 90 minutes from the present 3 hours, he added.
“The NHAI has awarded the project to Bhopal-based Dilip Buildcon and the project is fully funded by the Centre including the distribution of compensation for the land acquired. The Company has taken up the highway works in two packages.
Work in packages
The first package covers the development of 56.1 kms highway stretch from Bengaluru to Nidaghatta in Maddur taluk at the cost of Rs. 3,000 crore including 900 acres of land acquisition. The second package of works includes the development of 61.2 km highway from Nidaghatta to Mysuru at the cost of Rs.3,500 crore, he added.
The project is being taken up under new Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) adopted by NHAI. As per this, NHAI will fund just 40 per cent of the total project cost while the remaining 60 per cent will be invested by the contractor or developer. The contractor/investor will get fixed annual revenue while the Highway Authority takes care of the toll collection.
The Company has taken up both the package works after setting base camps at every 20 kilometres. Six bypass roads will be constructed at Srirangapatna, Mandya, Maddur, Channapattana, Ramanagara and Bidadi. An estimated 36,000 vehicles ply between the two cities everyday and traffic density has increased, Simha added and expressed confidence that the project will be completed in 24 months from now. The NHAI has a deadline of 30 months.
City BJP President T.S. Srivatsa, District BJP President S.D. Mahendra and NHAI Superintending Engineer Sridhar were present at the press conference.
Bring these multiple lane expressways on, more of them the merrier, so that Indians can too proudly say that they have car culture like one finds in the US. It is a progress too according to these politicians. They do not care how many trees are cut and to what extent the flora and fauna of this region gets decimated. Surely, the cynics should not assume that there is massive kickbacks when contracts are awarded. People in larger cars: Germany and other Western countries can off load their cars which they cannot sell in their own countries because of strict environment rules prevailing there.
I wonder when in about 2 decades, the electric automobiles become the norm , necessitating the requirement of electrical charge points like the petrol stations we see, and need to produce significant power generation requirement too which can significantly alter upwards, the state’s power needs. The implication is enormous. Oh, no, I am getting very squeamish, will say Modi, as he sees such projects as necessities to catch up with the West. In all climate conferences, his minions say, India cannot be denied the fruits of technological achievements, and this is a sort of technological achievement. I cannot be again a cynic to assume the reliability of maintaining the power at the above charge points.