<p>Bengaluru: The ambitious tunnel road in <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/bengaluru">Bengaluru</a> could require around 80 acres of land, according to the Detailed Project Report (DPR). Of this, close to 80 per cent would be government land, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said in a written reply to a question raised by MLC C T Ravi in the Legislative Council.</p>.<p>While the government plans to acquire the remaining 20 per cent of land from private entities by offering Transferable Development Rights (TDR), officials estimate they may need close to Rs 800 crore to acquire these properties if the private entities refuse to accept TDR.</p>.<p>The project also involves five interchange points and of this, four will come up at government properties. The remaining one is planned at St John’s Hospital. The survey work to acquire this property has already begun.</p>.<p>However, concerns have been raised over the large tract of land required for the project.</p>.Bengaluru's BBMP holds workshop on pothole repairs.<p>The government had earlier justified the project by stating that it couldn’t acquire large parcels of land to develop roads.</p>.<p>Rajkumar Dugar, activist, opined the government could build a two-way road of the same length by acquiring 80 acres. “According to the Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards, with 80 acres of land, we can construct close to 16.1 km of two-lane, two-way road and 11.5 km of two-way, three-lane road. When such is the situation, why should the government invest so much on a tunnel road project which is disastrous,” Dugar said.</p>.<p>The twin-tunnel project is expected to cost Rs 1,062 crore per km and since the project is being taken up under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, the government will only have to bear 40 per cent of the costs. This will be funded by HUDCO as a loan for which the government will stand as the guarantor.</p>.<p>Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Malleshwaram MLA, however, expressed concerns over this financing arrangement. “Under the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT), 60 per cent will be paid by the operator. Who will pay the remaining 40 per cent? It’s the BBMP, by pledging its assets. Offices, cemeteries, schools and all other municipal assets will be pledged. Who will pay if the project cost exceeds the loan borrowed?” he said.</p>.<p>Narayan added that the state had faced a similar situation back in the early 2000s. “Between 1999 and 2004, a big HUDCO loan was borrowed for Bengaluru development. At the time, the government stood guarantee for the loan. When the loan couldn’t be repaid, it got shifted to a nationalised bank. BBMP assets were pledged and the BJP had to take the blame,” he said.</p>.<p>In the written answer, Shivakumar also said the government, which is yet to finalise the tender, is also simultaneously working on land acquisition, shifting the trees, planning alternate routes for traffic management, and planning on waste management of waste produced during the construction of the tunnel road.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: The ambitious tunnel road in <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/bengaluru">Bengaluru</a> could require around 80 acres of land, according to the Detailed Project Report (DPR). Of this, close to 80 per cent would be government land, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said in a written reply to a question raised by MLC C T Ravi in the Legislative Council.</p>.<p>While the government plans to acquire the remaining 20 per cent of land from private entities by offering Transferable Development Rights (TDR), officials estimate they may need close to Rs 800 crore to acquire these properties if the private entities refuse to accept TDR.</p>.<p>The project also involves five interchange points and of this, four will come up at government properties. The remaining one is planned at St John’s Hospital. The survey work to acquire this property has already begun.</p>.<p>However, concerns have been raised over the large tract of land required for the project.</p>.Bengaluru's BBMP holds workshop on pothole repairs.<p>The government had earlier justified the project by stating that it couldn’t acquire large parcels of land to develop roads.</p>.<p>Rajkumar Dugar, activist, opined the government could build a two-way road of the same length by acquiring 80 acres. “According to the Indian Road Congress (IRC) standards, with 80 acres of land, we can construct close to 16.1 km of two-lane, two-way road and 11.5 km of two-way, three-lane road. When such is the situation, why should the government invest so much on a tunnel road project which is disastrous,” Dugar said.</p>.<p>The twin-tunnel project is expected to cost Rs 1,062 crore per km and since the project is being taken up under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, the government will only have to bear 40 per cent of the costs. This will be funded by HUDCO as a loan for which the government will stand as the guarantor.</p>.<p>Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Malleshwaram MLA, however, expressed concerns over this financing arrangement. “Under the Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT), 60 per cent will be paid by the operator. Who will pay the remaining 40 per cent? It’s the BBMP, by pledging its assets. Offices, cemeteries, schools and all other municipal assets will be pledged. Who will pay if the project cost exceeds the loan borrowed?” he said.</p>.<p>Narayan added that the state had faced a similar situation back in the early 2000s. “Between 1999 and 2004, a big HUDCO loan was borrowed for Bengaluru development. At the time, the government stood guarantee for the loan. When the loan couldn’t be repaid, it got shifted to a nationalised bank. BBMP assets were pledged and the BJP had to take the blame,” he said.</p>.<p>In the written answer, Shivakumar also said the government, which is yet to finalise the tender, is also simultaneously working on land acquisition, shifting the trees, planning alternate routes for traffic management, and planning on waste management of waste produced during the construction of the tunnel road.</p>