PRR project likely to begin next December

Work on Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) is likely to start in December next year, according to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials.

BDA officials have been holding a series of meetings in the city with a team of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which will fund the major infrastructure project.

The JICA team arrived subsequent to the PRR project getting the much-awaited environment clearance recently.

Earlier, the JICA team had raised objection to the funding after they had learnt that BDA was yet to get clearance from the Environmental Impact Assessment Authority, Karnataka.

This clearance was pending because the consultant hired by BDA, Ramki, neither had technical accreditation nor qualification to take up the project.
JICA had also sought legal details of PRR and Urban development department clearance records.

BDA engineer member P N Nayak said, “We have updated the JICA team about the developments so far and they have no objections. We have also told them about the rehabilitation package and land acquisition details. They have given their in-principle clearance to the project.”

“We will send a final proposal with minutes of the meetings and details to the Centre, which, in turn, will forward the same to JICA for their final nod. After this, loan will be provided and ground work taken up.”

JICA will fund around 80 per cent of the project. BDA has estimated a cost of Rs 5,800 crore for the construction of the eight-lane 65-km ring road connecting the existing Nice Road with Doddaballapur Road, Ballari Road, Old Madras Road and Sarjapur Road.

BDA requires 1,910 acre of land. JICA will not fund the land acquisition.