Even amid the hue and cry over the controversial widening of Sankey Road, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday took up widening of Suranjan Das Road connecting Old Madras Road with HAL Airport Road.
C.V. Raman Nagar MLA S. Raghu and BBMP officials participated in the inaugural programme in which the extended areas were levelled to make way for road widening. The road will be converted to a four-lane one and the 3.85-km stretch will be made 18.5 metres wide.
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The entire project will cost Rs. 14.74 crore, with the BBMP and Bagmane Developers sharing the cost in the ratio of 75:25.
The project is expected to take 10 months for completion, while the stretch between Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) Circle and Old Madras Road will be widened within five months.
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According to the official figures, an estimated 141 trees are being axed as a result of the project.
The MLA, however, maintained the official line that the tree park maintained by HAL near Jeevan Bimanagar will not be touched. “We will try to save as many trees as possible,” he said.
The present Passenger Car Unit (PCU) on the arterial stretch is said to be 2,267, and that is set to increase to 3,829 in 15 years.
The widening project is being touted as the solution to improve connectivity for the Namma Metro project (since the Metro Depot is at the end of the road in Byappanahalli) as well as for Bagmane Tech Park and the various Public Sector Units (PSUs) dotting the stretch.
“The water pipeline has already been laid between Old Madras Road and BEML Circle, and it won't be dug up again. So we are starting with the widening work on that side. There is no private property involved as HAL is giving the land,” Mr. Raghu said.