Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said two packages of Bengaluru Ring Road were among the 11 projects being awarded for commencing work immediately.
He was speaking after laying foundation stone and dedicating to the nation 33 national highway projects of 1,197-km length in Karnataka together worth ₹10,904 crore through videoconferencing. Mr. Gadkari said the four-lane 80 km Bengaluru Ring Road from Dabaspet to Hoskote via Doddaballapur (NH 648) would be constructed at a cost of ₹2,755.88 crore in two packages — Dabaspet to Doddaballapur and Doddaballapur to Hoskote.
The Ring Road, Mr. Gadkari said, would significantly reduce traffic burden on Bengaluru city besides augmenting economic activities in its vicinity. It would also connect the upcoming multi-modal logistic park at Dabaspet, he added. The Minister said DPR was under progress for Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road, estimated to cost ₹10,000 crore.
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Mr. Gadkari said the first of the ₹7,000 crore six-lane Bengaluru-Mysuru highway project packages would get completed in February 2022 while the second package in September 2022.
The Minister said work on the two-lane with paved shoulders highway between Belikeri-Kumta-Sirsi (58.92 km) would start shortly and get completed in December 2022 at an estimated cost of ₹440.16 crore. Work on six-lane bridge across Phalguni (Gurupura) river in Mangaluru on NH 66 (₹69 crore) would start immediately. All these were being undertaken by the NHAI. He urged the State government to expedite land acquisition for highway projects and noted that over 14,000 arbitration cases that were pending before revenue authorities were hindering infrastructure projects in Karnataka. The Minister declared open the four-lane 120 km Chitradurga-Hosapete NH 50, four-lane 188 km Kundapura-Goa border NH 66, two-lane 220 km Vijayapura-Humnabad-Kalaburagi NH 50, and five other projects.