RAMANAGARA: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday conducted an aerial inspection of the Bengaluru-Mysuru 10-lane expressway up to Srirangapatna for about 40 minutes. Later, he also travelled by bus between Basavapura and Jeegehalli.
Later, speaking to media persons, he said President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been requested to inaugurate the expressway and added that once fully completed by February-end, the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru will reduce to 90 minutes.
This will also help improve tourism in Srirangapatna, Kodagu and Mysuru and connectivity to Ramanagara and Mandya districtrs will improve. It will also help the IT sector and enhance economic activity in the region, he noted and added that the project has been taken up at a cost of Rs 9,000 crore.
He also said toll plazas will not be necessary as toll will be collected through FasTag using new technology. Officials have been instructed to create drainage system using latest technology and all hiccups will be rectified, he added.
Referring to the issue of naming of the highway, the Union Minister said there is no such convention and national highways are only assigned numbers. However, the issue will be discussed with the PM, he said.
Some party MPs and MLAs have given some suggestions on creating amenities and these will be looked into. Discussions have also been held with the CM, Gadkari noted. Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha, Ramanagara MP D K Suresh, Ministers K Gopalaiah, Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, CC Patil and Channapatna MLA C P Yogeshwar accompanied the Union minister.
Noting that Bengaluru is facing issues due to traffic jams, Gadkari said a 288 km satellite ring road will be constructed linking major towns around Bengaluru including Hoskote, Doddaballapur, Devanahalli, Ramanagara and Dobbspet under the Bharat Mala scheme. This will reduce traffic jams and accidents and also bring down pollution while reducing travel time, he added.
Of the 288 km, 243 km will be in Karnataka and 45 km in Tamil Nadu. This will be able to accommodate double decker buses which can carry 200 passengers at a time and reduce traffic jams, he said.
Gadkari, who earlier inspected the progress of work on the Bengaluru-Chennai expressway corridor, said the Rs 17,000 crore project is being taken up in three phases in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka, work will be taken up on 71 km at a cost of Rs 5,069 crore and 32-36 per cent of the work has been completed. Once fully completed, the 262 km corridor will reduce the travel time between Bengaluru and Chennai to 2 hours and 15 minutes from the present five hours as vehicles can travel at 120 kmph.
The expressway will also bring down logistics cost from the present 16 per cent. Work is going on 231 km and the will be taken up on the remaining 31 km after clearance from the Forest Department. It is aimed to complete all the work by January 26 next year, he noted.
The minister said he has instructed the officials to create Amrit Mahotsav gardens along the highway and to use 2-3 acres on either side to build Amrit Sarovars to collect flowing water.