After the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) pulled out from the Bengaluru Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project earlier this year, the state government is now taking practical steps to execute the project through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV).
What is the PRR project?
The PRR project is especially targeted to reduce high congestion on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) and promote connectivity to areas beyond the ORR.
What’s happening now?
The decision comes after the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) assured the state of financing of 50% of this project. Last week, Mr K J George, a member of the Bengaluru Development Ministry, met with BDA officials and urged them to form the SPV regardless of the involvement from the Centre.
When asked for further details, Mr Mahendra Jain, Chief Secretary of Urban Development Department explained, “A month ago, we got an offer from the Centre, saying it wants to contribute 50% to the project. The approval to form the SPV has already come from the state government. But we have not got any official assurance from the Centre so far. But the minister guided us to go ahead and form the SPV with without the Centre’s involvement.”
An end in sight to delays?
With statements like these from government officials, it appears that work on the Bengaluru’s PRR project may finally begin after a decade of delays. Although, a lot needs to be done before the project can be set into motion.Once the Peripheral Ring Road is in operation, it will provide an alternative route for commuters to reach north of the city from Electronic City and Sarjapur Road via Bellary Road and KR Puram. This will ease traffic on the city’s main roads. These roads are estimated to transport at least 10,000 trucks every single day.
What the government wants to do
To restart the Bengaluru PRR project, the state government will now form a 15-member board to plan the next steps for the execution. It has also joined hands with the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) to receive assistance with funding. The Bangalore Development
Authority (BDA) will be repaying the amount through the toll when the road gets functional.
The two primary reasons for the delay on this project have been a lack of funding and agitation from farmers owning the land. The PRR, which is estimated to cover 1920 acres of land, spans over 51 villages.
All the delays have pushed up project costs
As per the Detailed Project Report, initially, the project was pegged at Rs 9,600 crores, of which Rs 5,800 crores would be redirected towards land acquisition and compensation to farmers. The remainder Rs 3,800 crores would be set aside for road development costs. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to invest in the road development costs but indicated that it would be unable to fund the land acquisition.
As of now, the farmers have agreed to part with their land under the revised terms of compensation. This has, however, raised the PRR project costs from Rs 9,600 crores to Rs 11,200 crores. A significant jump.
However, if Bengaluru’s PRR project is executed successfully, it will bring much-needed relief to the city’s massive congestion problem, and facilitate better connectivity.
