KCCI addresses Gadkari to speed up infrastructure work around Mangaluru

KCCI addresses Gadkari to speed up infrastructure work around Mangaluru

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Dec 18, 2015: In a memorandum submitted to the Minister who was on a one-day visit to Mangaluru, KCCI president Rammohan Pai Maroor said that though Mangaluru has an export promotion industrial park (EPIP) at Ganjimutt located off Mangaluru-Sholapur National Highway, it has poor connectivity.

With a narrow service road besides the Bikarnakatte flyover, container trucks are unable to ply to EPIP, he pointed out. NHAI’s proposal to construct Gurupura-Kaikamba Bypass appears unscientific, the KCCI said The chamber has submitted an alternative proposal to NHAI with minimum bends; proper gradient and scope for further widening. He urged Mr. Gadkari to ask NHAI to consider the chamber’s alternative proposal.

The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI)  urged Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari to set up National Highways in and around Mangaluru for the benefit of trade and industry, as well as the public.

Never-ending construction: Expressing unhappiness over the unending work on four-laning National Highway 66 between Talapady and Kundapura,  Pai told the Minister that work on the stretch has several flaws. There is a need to construct wide service roads along the highway between Kulur and Surathkal, since the stretch witnesses movement of heavy vehicles due to the presence of New Mangalore Port and Baikampady industrial area.

More than 900 mishaps and 100 deaths have occurred in the last five years,  Pai pointed out. The service roads, which are about 3 m wide, should be widened to at least 7 m, he urged.

On the other hand, work on the additional road over bridge at Baikampady over the NMPT Railway line is limping, severely affecting vehicular movement on the highway, Pai said and urged the Minister to direct NHAI to complete the work immediately.

He also urged the Minister to direct NHAI to expedite work on four-laning the highway between Talapady and Kundapura.

Improve amenities :   Pai said though many cruise vessels call on New Mangalore Port, the port lacks adequate passenger amenities and urged the Minister to look into the issue so as to attract more cruise vessels. While Mumbai, Goa and Kochi have been included in the Coastal Circuit Policy of Global Cruise Lines by the Union government, Mangalurh has been left out.  He urged Minister Gadkari to include Mangaluru, which has abundant tourist attractions, in the policy so as to boost tourism in coastal Karnataka.