Foundation laid for 8-lane corridor at Okalipuram

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the eight-lane signal-free corridor at Okalipuram, paving the way for an ambitious project aimed at easing traffic at the highly congested junction.

The project, with an estimated cost of Rs 183.77 crore, will have road underbridges, loops and an underpass. The construction work will be carried out at an estimated cost of Rs 115 crore while Rs 58.8 crore will be spent on land acquisition.

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, which is executing the work, has already acquired about three acres from Binny Mill and given in exchange for the South Western Railways land.

Addressing people after laying the foundation stone, Shettar said the project would be a model for coordination between the various State and Central government departments such as Railways, BSNL, Bescom and the BWSSB, to materialise the project that will ease traffic at one of the worst bottleneck junctions in the City.

He instructed the Palike to ensure that the work is executed within the stipulated time.
Recalling the contributions of the BJP government in the last five years, he said that about Rs 15,000 crore has been spent on infrastructure projects in Bangalore to provide better facilities to citizens.

On the occasion, he gave away cheques to officials of various stakeholder agencies to shift utilities.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Kumar said Rs 10.3 crore will be given to the Railways for the construction of quarters and running room.