Eight years to widen, one night to asphalt road

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Jan 15, 2015, DHNS:  For eight years, the Suranjan Das road-widening project in HAL remained unfinished, earning the notoriety as Bengaluru’s slowest.

But on Wednesday morning, commuters were shocked by a thick layer of asphalt, three meters wide and 400 metres long. Working overnight, BBMP had got into hyper-active mode for defence minister’s January 16 visit to a training institute on this stretch.

Thousands of commuters, schoolchildren and the elderly struggle to negotiate this stretch linking Old Madras Road with Old Airport road every day.

The nightmarish peak hours trigger maddening traffic blocks for hours. Citing unpaid bills, the project contractor remained unmoved. So did the Palike. But the minister’s convoy had to move fast and travel smooth.

Out came the Palike men and machines late Tuesday night. The cosmetic deed, even if barely 400 metres long, was done in a jiffy.

But the work will still remain incomplete. For, the two-kilometre stretch from HAL hospital till BEML main gate resembles a war zone, a chaotic mess of stones and gravel in extreme slow motion. Vehicles in their thousands take the parallel road, a concrete stretch laid half a century ago! If this isn’t a recipe for commuting disaster, what is?

MoU inked in 2006
The road should have been widened, concretised and ready seven years ago. That was exactly the plan when BBMP and Bagmane Tech Park inked a deal to share the cost on a 75:25 ratio, with the Palike footing the lion’s share.

But the cost, which was barely Rs 8 crore in 2006, escalated to Rs 12 crore in 2011 and to around Rs 20 crore now.

HAL, which parted with eight acres of land, was initially tasked with executing the project. However, since there was no response to tenders, the work was entrusted to BBMP in 2011. Palike sources blamed the Tech Park for not honouring its financial commitment.

“Out of Rs 5 crore (including the share of escalated cost), only Rs 98 lakh has been paid so far. We have sent them seven reminders, but they haven’t responded. Now, we will have to explore the legal route,” a Palike official told Deccan Herald.

Underground utility shifting issues delayed the work for several months. The costs rose again. The project contractor refused to continue unless the Palike paid the dues which mounted to Rs 5 crore.

“The contractor now says let the Palike release at least two crore and the work can be completed in two months.” But for the apparently cash-starved BBMP, the road was hardly a priority.