Government may seek bigwigs’ support for 65-km peripheral ring road project

With state elections less than a year away, the 65-km peripheral ring road (PRR) project may see some momentum.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is planning to give some shape to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) created to implement the project, where the BDA and the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) have equal stakes.

“We wish to have eminent Bengalureans like Wipro chairman Azim Premji and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy on the board of this SPV so that the project will get some direction,” a government official said. The PRR project is a bigticket infrastructure project, the SPV for which have equity contribution of Rs 12.5 crore each from the BDA and the KUIDFC. The project has been stuck for a long time.

Urban development minister R Roshan Baig, who is also the minister in charge of KUIDFC, said it was high time the project was implemented and hoped it will pick up in the coming days.

The BDA is placing the project proposal at one of its forthcoming meetings to decide on how to take it forward.

The project will connect four highways -Tumakuru Road, Ballari Road, Old Madras Road, and Hosur Road. The road will, in turn, create seamless connectivity with Kanakapura Road and Mysuru Road, two other major highways connecting to Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently wrote to the Centre requesting that it build the road as a bypass to national highways seven and four (NH-4 & NH-7).

The proposed PRR is also very close to the proposed National Investment & Manufacturing Zone and it also falls along the Bengaluru-Chennai Industrial Corridor. The Centre has offered to fund the road construction cost but wants the state to bear the land acquisition cost. Of the Rs 12,000 crore estimated project cost, land acquisition alone makes up Rs 8,100 crore.

The state government has been making a strong pitch for the Centre’s assistance because the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is likely to fund the project, does not fund land acquisition.The JICA limits itself to financing the project minus land costs.

The BDA has notified 1989 acres of land for the PRR project and land costs have risen because the BDA will be paying the compensation based on the land acquisition law passed by the previous UPA government.

“The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORTH) has a provision to fund the project as it is treated as a bypass to national highways. We are hopeful they will consider,” said the official, quoted above.

Road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has put pressure on Karnataka to show some progress on the project and suggested that it be routed via Niti Aayog so that some solution could be found.