Bangalore-Mysore speedway Phase I by Aug 2005

Bannerghatta traffic flow to Electronic City to ease

The problem-ridden Bangalore-Mysore Expressway project conceived in early 1990s, is taking off gradually and the first phase of the project is expected to be complete by August 2005.

The first phase involves 41 km of peripheral road connecting Tumkur Road to Bannerghatta Road and thereafter the Electronics City. This initial phase also envisages connecting the Bangalore - Mysore Expressway to State Highway 17, a distance of around 9 km.

Announcing this to the media in Bangalore on Tuesday, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Limited managing director Ashok Khenny said: "We have begun work on the first phase which involves an area of 4,260 acres at a cost of around Rs 850 crore. Nearly 85 per cent of the land has been acquired and the remaining 15 per cent is in the process of being acquired. We intend to have the section ready by August 2005. This will streamline a major part of the Bannerghatta traffic flow into Electronic City."

Khenny said the financial closure for the Phase I has already been achieved and the road will also see completion of 12 km of the Bangalore - Mysore Expressway upto Bidadi. The debt component is Rs 480 crore at 11 per cent interest for the phase and financial institutions like LIC and New India have taken exposure to the project.

Commenting on the time-frame for completion of this long-pending project which promises to cut down the travel from Bangalore to Mysore by half, Khenny said: "The project involves a total land area of 20,193 acres costing Rs 2,250 crore and the next 90 km of Bangalore - Mysore expressway from Bidadi will be completed by August 2006 and the remaining will be ready by August 2007. The debt:equity ratio for the project is 1.6:1 and there has been lot of interest shown by various financial institutions."

Khenny further added that they intend to pay off the debt over a 11-year period through toll collections and "one of the uniqueness of this toll-project is that the toll is collected at the vehicles exit point".

"At every 10 km over the stretch, there are exit points. Each vehicle is given a smart card at the entry point and the traveller can exit where he wants and pay for the distance travelled which will be captured in the smart card," Khenny highlighted.