PRR project: 1,810 acres marked for acquisition by govt

The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to start acquiring land for the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) with a new compensation model that the government hopes will kickstart the long-pending project that promises to decongest Bengaluru.

A total of 1,810 acres of land spread across 67 villages or settlements have been marked for acquisition.

“Landowners who will lose below two acres will be compensated based on the 2013 land acquisition law. Those losing more than two acres will get 50% cash and 50% of transfer of development rights (TDR),” Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said, briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting.

The earlier TDR-heavy approach was not successful, Narayan pointed out. "That's why we're now giving cash and TDR."

The decade-old project will connect four highways - Tumakuru Road, Ballari Road, Old Madras Road and Hosur road - to create seamless connectivity with Kanakapura Road and Mysuru Road, two other major highways connecting to Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

This compensation approach has been decided after considering directions issued by courts based on petitions filed by land losers. “The cost of land acquisition is estimated to be Rs 8,100 crore whereas road construction is pegged at Rs 3,850 crore,” Narayan said. “The government will bear the land acquisition cost by way of a loan to a special purpose vehicle. For road formation, we will get a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.”

The proposed PRR will be built with a 100m width as against the earlier plan of making it 75m wide. “Keeping in mind the need for a service road and cycle tracks, the width of the road will be 100m. Earlier, 25m was kept for commercial development, which we have removed,” Narayan said.

According to Narayan, the government will need one year to complete the land acquisition process and three years to construct the road. “All the nitty-gritty has been figured out.”

Law Minister JC Madhuswamy added that tenders for road construction will be floated once 80% of the land acquisition is done “in order to disallow escalation of costs.”

Scheme renamed

The Cabinet also decided to rename the Mukhyamantri Nava Bengaluru scheme as Mukhyamantri Nava Nagarotthana scheme. Under the scheme, the previous Congress-JD(S) coalition had approved action plans for infrastructure projects worth Rs 8,015 crore.

“A new action plan has been prepared in which Rs 328 crore has been added additionally for dry waste collection centres, mechanical sweepers and other works,” Narayan said.