Deadline No. 5 goes begging for Kundalahalli underpass

The much-awaited underpass project at Kundalahalli Gate on ITPL Road has missed its fifth deadline for completion.

The project, due for completion in September, is stalling due to complications over land acquisition.

It has been planned as part of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s ambitious signal-free corridor along Old Airport Road to permanently solve traffic bottlenecks on ITPL Main Road. It has been in construction since February 2019.

Speaking to DH, BBMP Chief Engineer (Projects) M Lokesh attributed the project’s stalling to delays in acquiring a commercial property on the site.

“Land acquisition was the major hurdle that came on our way. One of the key properties under litigation and pending at the court caused the delay. Now that the court has cleared the case, we should be able to proceed with the acquisition,” he said.

Lokesh is confident that the Palike should be able to plan traffic diversion and proceed with the work once the acquisition gets done. “We may need two more months to finish the work,” he added, pointing out that the retaining wall has been completed and the BWSSB has also finished with the drainage lines and shifted the utilities.

Another engineer at the project site said only the central box portion was the major pending work. "All the box elements are precast and ready for installation,” he said. “We just have to assemble and fix them together.”

The engineer further revealed that 14 of the 27 properties required for the project have been acquired and 13 others are pending at various stages of acquisition.

BBMP sources said property owners initially refused Transferable Development Rights (TDR), while the civic body’s offer of compensation as per guidance value has also been rebuffed. It eventually had to pay twice the guidance value to acquire the properties.

Started in February 2019, the project was due for completion in September 2019. The deadline was shifted to April 2020 and was once again pushed to October of the same year due to the lockdown.

Authorities fixed February 2021 as the fresh deadline, but the second Covid wave put paid to their plans.

Though it was stretched till June 2021, the BBMP and Infrastructure Development Department gave two months' extension.

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