Prestige Group completes construction of flyover near Bellandur Lake

Bengaluru: In just a year, real estate firm Prestige Group has completed the construction of a 1.5-km flyover aimed at improving access to its newly built tech parks near Bellandur Lake.

The flyover, expected to ease travel between Outer Ring Road and Old Airport Road, is likely to be opened to the public shortly.

Notably, this is the city’s second privately funded flyover. The company unveiled the elevated road on Monday.

In April last year, the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) approved the firm’s proposal to construct the flyover largely on public land and along the buffer zone of a stormwater drain.

As part of the agreement, the company offered to widen Kariyammana Agrahara Road and bear the entire cost of the flyover.

However, on Tuesday, the general public was not allowed to access the flyover, possibly due to minor pending works. Commuters were greeted by closed gates at the ORR entry point, with similar restrictions in place on the Bellandur Lake Road side too.

However, there were no restrictions on employees working at Prestige Group’s tech parks from using the flyover.

Officials of the Bengaluru East City Corporation, however, maintained that the flyover would eventually be opened to the public once the remaining works are completed.

“I inspected the project along with the GBA Chief Commissioner a few months ago. As per the agreement, the flyover will also be open to the public,” Corporation Commissioner D S Ramesh said.

When permission for the project was granted, DH had reported on the agreement in July last year. In its proposal, the company argued that the existing roads were too narrow to handle growing traffic volumes and noted that the upcoming Prestige Beta Tech Park was expected to accommodate more than 5,000 employees.

Notably, the group had first approached the BBMP for permission to construct the flyover in August 2022 and again in November 2023, but the requests were not considered at the time.

Apart from benefiting tech park employees, the flyover is expected to offer an alternative route for commuters travelling towards Yemalur Junction from ORR, particularly as stretches around Kadubeesanahalli and Marathahalli witness severe congestion during peak hours.

Clement Jayakumar, a member of the Mahadevapura Taskforce civic group, backed public access to the flyover. “If opened to all, it will benefit vehicles heading towards Yemalur and Old Airport Road. Bellandur Lake Road is also being widened now,” he said.

However, he pointed out that congestion within Yemalur would remain a challenge due to narrow internal roads.

A spokesperson for Prestige Group declined to comment.