By Team Mangalorean
Photographs: Rajesh Shetty

Mangalore, May 6, 2008: Travelers between Mangalore and Bangalore will heave a sigh of relief from June 1 if what is told by Principal secretary department of public work Sudhir Krishna is to be taken as a gospel truth. Mr.Krishna has categorically stated that the 38 kilometer stretch between Anemahal to Addaholay on Shirady ghat stretch will be completed by June 1 2008 which is just 25 days away.

Speaking to the reporters after inspecting the repairs of road he informed that out of 38km stretch between Sakleshpur and Adda Hole bridge near Gundya that was being worked on, 30km was already asphalted while remaining 8km stretch is being worked on. He further informed that this entire stretch included 13 curves with total length of 1.8 km, out of which 8 curves were already concretized and rest of the concretization and asphalting of the approaches to those concrete curves is expected to be completed within next 20 days.

 According to Krishna, out of 39 km stretch 33-km length of road needed fresh asphalting while filling the potholes on the remaining stretch. This also included widening of 55 culverts out of which 48 were already completed. He said that, drainage, shoulder work and paining of the centre line had to be completed by the end of May.

 State National Highways had taken up the repair works at a cost of Rs. 33 crores, out of which the contractors were already paid Rs 14 crores and rest of the payment would be released soon, he said.

Expressing the satisfaction over the completion of work well before the schedule, he partly attributed the delay in the progress of repair work to unseasonal rains and said that though as per the schedule work was to be completed by end of May 2009 the ghat section would be opened to traffic within five months of commencing the repair work.

 The road repair work on this stretch which has been going on since last October had to be stopped briefly due to various constraints including failure from the government in keeping up the commitment of payment to the contractors.

Four-Laning

Mr.Krishna informed that state government had received the nod from centre for widening and four-laning of the National Highway 48 between Nelamangala and B.C. Road. Accordingly the widening of 81 km stretch between Nelamangala and Devihalli has been already taken up, he added.

 He said that a contracting company Lanco Devihalli Highways Pvt. Ltd. was executing the works under BTO (Build, Operate and Transfer) scheme on this stretch. In the second phase, Mr Krishna said widening of 80km between Devihalli and Hassan would be taken up once the tender was cleared.

The central government was keen on converting this stretch between Mangalore and Bangalore into a four lane national highway. Lanco Devihalli Highways Private limited which is a special purpose vehicle  has taken up this stretch for expansion.

Mr. Krishna said the SPV was constituted under the guidance of the NHAI rules and works taken up by the SPV will be subjected to scrutiny. The work on this stretch has begun in January 2008 and will take not less than 24 months to be completed. This road when completed will have connectivity channels to the hinterland of the New Mangalore Port  he added.  Being taken up at a cost of Rs. 441 crores the road will be constructed on Built Operate and Transfer(BOT) scheme. When asked if the travelers will have to pay the toll, Mr. Krishna said all good facilities come at a cost but the SPV has been told to rationalize its toll programme.

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