The Urban Development Department (UDD) has laid out a four year plan for the Elevated Corridor Project in which six corridors covering 102 km will be built to decongest Bengaluru's traffic. A feasibility report for the project was finalised in a meeting at the Vidhana Soudha on Tuesday. The report will now have to be approved by Chief Minister Kumaraswamy along with the proposal for the long planned Peripheral Ring Road.
The elevated corridor is estimated to cost the state government Rs 25,000 crore including the costs of land acquisition. The project is expected to be in place by 2025-26.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, KB Rathnakar Reddy, consultant for Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) which prepared the report, said, “As of now, one crore daily trips are undertaken in vehicles by the 1.2 crore population in the city. A trip refers to any distance travelled from one point to another by private vehicles or public transport. According to the BDA Master Plan 2031, the population will double by then. The number of trips undertaken by Bengalureans will then shoot up to two crore a day. It is absolutely vital to have this corridor in place by then so that public transport can run smoothly.”
Speaking about the acquisition of the land for the projects, BDA Commissioner Rakesh Singh said it will not take much time. "We have acquired land but compensation is yet to be distributed. In a year, we will complete all legal works and take the land in our possession,” he told Economic Times.
Each of the corridors will have four lanes with two shoulders. The project was mooted a year ago and officials expect work to begin as early as 2019 on the project.
Meanwhile, the construction of the Peripheral Ring Road will be taken up under a public-private partnership and is set to cost Rs 6,885 crore.