There is renewed optimism on the growth and investment potential of Mysuru in view of the rapid strides being made on the connectivity front to link the city with Bengaluru and other centres.
Projects pertaining to all modes of transportation here – railways, airways and roadways – are in the pipeline and in various stages of commencement. This includes the expansion of the Mysuru airport and possibilities of additional routes and flights connecting the city with rest of India for which land acquisition process has been set in motion.
While the track doubling and electrification works have been completed on the Mysuru-Bengaluru section, introduction of additional trains will hinge on capacity expansion of Mysuru railway station. Hence a green field project at Naganahalli for a new railway terminal at a cost of ₹700 crore is in the offing. The project has been approved by the Railway Board and funds have been released for preparation of the Detailed Project Report (DPR).
Roadworks
The existing highway connecting Mysuru and Bengaluru is being converted to 10 lane with bypasses at all towns enroute to skip them.
“The work will commence in September and the project is expected to be completed in two years. Hence all the three major modes of transportation linking Mysuru will be ready by 2020 which will give an impetus for the industrial and commercial growth of Mysuru,” said Pratap Simha, Mysuru MP.
Job opportunities
G.T. Deve Gowda, Minister for Higher Education, said completion of these three major projects will definitely make Mysuru a favoured Tier 2 IT city for companies with a potential to create 30,000 to 50,000 additional jobs.
He said most corporates use a 5-C evaluation methodology in selecting a Tier 2/Tier 3 centers with suitable modifications to address their requirements. This includes capability (availability of local talent), culture (willingness of existing and newly recruited employees to move to the new centre; local working conditions including law and order); cost (availability of office space and power at reasonable cost); and customer acceptance (often dictated by availability of air connectivity).
Citing experts, he said Mysuru emerges on top on most parameters in evaluations conducted by many MNCs except one area – the airport. Though the Mysuru airport has not been expanded owing to poor response in the last few years, this was a fallout of limited connectivity and inconvenient airline schedules and was not a reflection of the immense potential of Mysuru in attracting investment.