No service roads for Peripheral Ring Road; mobility experts criticise plan

Bengaluru: Much like NICE Road, there will be no service roads on either side of the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR), which will form a semicircle around Bengaluru. 

To attract more bidders, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has dropped the plan of building service roads, saying that will reduce toll collection. In the revised cross-section drawing, the authority has retained service roads only at selected stretches but these lanes have been dropped from the scope of work. The move will likely affect area residents. 

As per the original plan, the BDA had proposed building a main carriageway comprising a total of eight lanes and a two-lane service road on either side of the PRR that will connect Hosur and Tumakuru roads. The project, estimated to cost Rs 27,000 crore, including land acquisition, will be entirely funded by private players. 

A senior BDA official said service roads would not be built until after the end of the toll period but the authority would still acquire the land for building these roads in the future. “We are temporarily dropping the service roads to make the project attractive for bidders,” he said. 

The BDA had invited bids at least twice in the past but no bidders took part because the authority had not clearly stated the cost of land acquisition. In the third attempt, the BDA stated that acquiring nearly 2,560 acres of land would cost Rs 21,000 crore. Sources said the pre-bid meeting, held late in February, received responses from many companies. 

As per the bid document, the successful bidder will have the sole and exclusive right to collect the toll from vehicles for 50 years. Starting April 1, the toll will be revised every year once the commercial operation begins. Area residents using the road for non-commercial purposes will likely be charged a monthly fee of Rs 200. 

Mobility experts have criticised building an access-controlled road without service lanes. They feel service roads are much needed as they provide better connectivity to the adjacent areas. Some also referred to NICE Road which is occupied by trucks on all lanes and say service roads would have provided a smooth flow of traffic. 

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