NHAI invites bids for widening Shiradi Ghat stretch

The estimated cost of the project is Rs 1,976 crore

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has invited bids for four laning of Maranahalli-Addahole of Shirdi Ghat section on the Mangaluru-Bengaluru NH 75 to be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 1,976 crore.

In a letter to Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that the NHAI is simultaneously taking up the task of finalisation of DPR works for the project of Shiradi Ghat tunnel, which will decrease the logistic cost for the traffic between Mangaluru and Bengaluru.

“This project of 23-km tunnel work will incur a cost of Rs 15,000 crore. We will finalise the DPR by April 2023 and invitation of bids in May 2023,” the minister stated in a letter to the MP.

In the meantime, it has been decided to repair the stretch of the road from Sakleshpur to Maranahalli. The bids for repair work for an amount of Rs 12.2 crore for the ease of traffic are under evaluation, Gadkari added in the letter to the MP.

It may be recalled that Gadkari on December 8 while answering Kateel in the Lok Sabha had said that the government had dropped the plan to build tunnels on Shiradi Ghat and had decided to construct a four-lane road on this stretch of National Highway 75. The Minister had said that the construction of tunnels in the Shiradi Ghat section involves huge investments as well as difficulties in the execution of work and may not be viable.

Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) had been drawing attention of the government on the poor condition of Shiradi Ghat stretch for the last few years.