BDA likely to invite tenders for Peripheral Ring Road in a week

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) will likely invite tenders for the 73-km Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) in a week’s time.

On Monday, the Urban Development Department cleared the proposal after reviewing the tender conditions but did not disclose the decisions taken on contentious issues, including the compensation to be paid to landlosers. The project has also come in for criticism over the proposal to collect toll for 50 years.

BDA Chairman S R Vishwanath said the final decision on the compensation structure would be taken at the pre-bid meeting with the interested companies. “If we pay the compensation based on the guidance value, we’ll need around Rs 5,000 crore. But if we pay according to the (2013) act, we will need double that money,” he told DH.

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The decision on compensation may also determine how long the successful bidder will get to collect the toll. The civil work is estimated to cost Rs 5,616 crore.

The eight-lane PRR will connect Hosur Road with Tumakuru Road via Sarjapur Road, Old Madras Road and Ballari Road. It’s aimed at reducing the load on the Outer Ring Road, which now runs entirely within the city. The project was on the backburner for nearly two decades. In February this year, the state government approved the project under the Design, Build, Finance, Operate, Transfer (DBFOT) model.

The concessionaire will have to bear the full cost of acquiring land, constructing the road and maintaining/operating it for 50 years. It will have to share revenue with the BDA.

The project has undergone some modifications. As per the latest plan, it will have 17 toll plazas on either side of the grade separators. It will also have four cloverleaf interchanges (on Ballari Road, Old Madras Road, Hosur Road and Tumakuru Road), two flyovers and four underpasses. Thirteen metres will be set aside in the median for mass transportation facilities while there will be a 12.5-metre space on both sides of the road for utilities.

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The government notified 1,810 acres of land for the project in 2007. Another 750 acres were notified recently because the BDA had to change the alignment at places such as Seegehalli where a number of buildings have come up. Some more land was needed to build the cloverleaf junctions, integrate the PRR with NICE Road and connect the missing links.

B M Shivakumar, president of the NGO Jayaprakash Narayan Vichara Vedike, warned the government would be “committing injustice” if landlosers are not paid as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. “Villagers will stand to lose if they are made to give away their land at the guidance value, which is way too low,”
Shivakumar said.

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