Skybus an option to decongest Bengaluru, eight road projects on anvil

RAMANAGARA: Announcing that eight major ongoing road projects worth more than Rs 10,000 crore connecting various parts to Bengaluru will be completed before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari said the government is also studying a skybus project to decongest Bengaluru. 

The ministry has sought a report on the skybus project from a Philippines-based company, along with a viability report that will check congestion and pollution in Bengaluru. A skybus will have a carrying capacity of 200 passengers. Stressing the need to improve public transport, Gadkari said there will be presentations on the proposed project.

He said the logistic park and multi-modal container ports in the city will be shifted to the outskirts, which will decongest traffic to a certain extent. The government is ready to spend money on buying land for the container yard outside the city, he added. Gadkari said the transport ministry is constructing 27 greenfield expressways and access-controlled corridors over 10,000 km at a total cost of Rs 4.5 lakh crore, which will improve connectivity and bring economic prosperity to the nation. Of the 27 greenfield corridors, one expressway and two economic corridors pass through Karnataka, he added.

Gadkari said the Bengaluru Satellite Town Ring Road is being constructed under Bharatmala Pariyojana to decongest Bengaluru, boost the speed of freight movement and increase traffic handling capacity. It will link the city suburbs of Hoskote, Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Ramanagara, Kanakapura and Anekal, and also provide connectivity to the proposed Multi-Modal Logistics Park at Dabaspet and the proposed Pune-Bengaluru Greenfield Expressway.

He revealed that the 342-km Bengaluru-Kadapa-Vijayawada greenfield access-controlled corridor, connecting the two major cities of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, is being developed at a total cost of Rs 13,600 crore. It will reduce the distance between the two cities by about 75km and cut travel time by about 5 hours. “The corridor enhances connectivity to existing and upcoming economic and industrial nodes such as Guntur, Kadapa and Koparthy. Bids for 275km of the corridor have been invited,” he said.

He revealed that the proposed Pune-Bengaluru 6-lane access-controlled greenfield highway of Bharatmala Phase-2 will be built at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore, and of 700km, 500km will pass through Karnataka and 200km through Maharashtra.