BBMP seeks Rs 35 crore to complete two TenderSURE roads

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has sought an additional grant of Rs 34.40 crore to complete pending works on Siddaiah Puranik Road (2.12 km) in the Rajajinagar constituency and a 2.47-km stretch on Jayanagar 11th main road.

The letter has been embedded with letters of two MLAs and a separate justification of the technical advisory committee as the civic body’s first request was rejected by the government.

Of the Rs 34.40 crore required to complete the roads, the company has invested Rs 18.38 crore worth of works, anticipating that the state government would give its consent.

Both the above-mentioned roads were part of the five roads identified for development under the TenderSURE model almost seven years ago. While the BBMP has already completed 100 per cent of the work on Kempegowda Road, Nrupathunga Road and Dr Modi Hospital Road, only 90 per cent of the work has been completed on Siddaiah Puranik Road and just 70 per cent on the Jayanagar 11th main road.

Although these five roads were initially estimated to cost Rs 56 crore, the civic body had gone ahead to award the work to RNS Infrastructure Ltd for Rs 86.46 crore, citing the complexity of the work.

As per the BBMP’s letter to the Urban Development Department, the contractor has abandoned the work on two roads as more work was included during the construction phase.

The BBMP said additional utilities for cables and sewer lines and more number of underground chambers to minimise cutting of trees, among others, bloated the cost of developing the five roads (7.56-km) to Rs 120.86 crore. That’s close to Rs 16 crore per kilometre.

It is also learnt that Excise Minister K Gopalaiah and MLA Suresh Kumar have also written letters to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, requesting him to approve the additional cost. The civic body has also received approval from the technical advisory committee.

Watch the latest DH Videos here: