After giving up the steel flyover project from Basaveshwara Circle to Hebbal, the state government is pushing for the tunnel route from Mehkri Circle to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) near Devanahalli.

Bengaluru Development Minister K J George on Friday held discussions with Bulgarian representatives from ISA West Consortium Company for the tunnel route. The representatives made a presentation explaining various proposals regarding providing tunnel route at various points to reach the KIA.

The minster advised them to come out with specifics of the tunnel work between Mehkri Circle and Columbia Asia Hospital. He also asked them to conduct a preliminary feasibility study and submit a report so that a clear picture would emerge on implementing the proposals in a phased manner.

The representatives told George that they were ready to invest 70% of the total project cost under Private Public Partnership model.

It was decided at the meeting that a three-member committee be constituted to interact with the representatives and help them in preparing the study report. The members are Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) engineer member P N Nayak, Karnataka Road Development Corporation chief engineer Krishna Reddy and BBMP chief engineer (projects) K T Nagaraj.