Bengaluru's Kundalahalli underpass may be ready in 60 days

BENGALURU: Kundalahalli underpass is likely to be ready in 60 days, as the last of the hurdles to work completion is getting cleared. The underpass has been under construction from February 2019 and has missed several deadlines. It is part of BBMP’s ambitious signal-free corridor along Old Airport Road.
While a poultry shop, a pork stall and a two-wheeler garage, which were preventing the widening of the road, are being demolished, work on razing a commercial building that stands on a plot spread over 200 sqm in a corner of the road will be taken up soon. These were the last of the structures holding up work.
“In two days, the owner of the commercial building will be compensated, after which we will take up demolition work. Precast boxes are ready and their installation will be bringing the underpass work to an end,” Lokesh, chief engineer, projects, BBMP, told TOI.
Owners of 24 properties, which were to be acquired for the project, had earlier refused to agree to the compensation offered by the civic body. After a meeting with the land owners on January 3, 2020, BBMP offered to pay a compensation of over 1.6 times the guidance value. As the owners remained firm, another meeting was held on February 24. It was finally decided that two times the guidance value of the land to be acquired would be paid as compensation. This translated into Rs 42.5 crore for acquiring 33,654 sq ft of land.
The underpass was to be completed by December 2019, but work halted within a few months owing to land-acquisition issues.
In September 2019, then chief minister BS Yediyurappa visited the spot and ordered resumption of work. The deadline was shifted to April 2020 and then again to October 2020. The last missed deadline was February 2021.