Vehicle users will have to wait till mid-2022 for a smooth ride on the 140-odd-km Mysuru-Bengaluru Highway that is being upgraded to a 10-lane highway and as an Economic Corridor. The 10 lanes include four service roads on either side of the six-lane main carriageway.

The National Highways Authority of India has taken up the core works at an estimated cost of Rs. 7,400 crore and once the project is realised, commuters between Bengaluru and Mysuru can travel the distance in just about 90 minutes from the present 3 hours.

In reply to questions raised by P.C. Mohan, MP for Bengaluru Central in Lok Sabha recently, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said that 85 per cent of the land required for the project has been acquired. The scope of the work also includes the construction of nine major bridges, 44 minor bridges and four Road Over Bridges.

“The six-lane Bengaluru-Nidaghatta-Mysuru Road stretch was awarded in two packages in February 2018. Physical progress of about 18 percent has been achieved in the six-lane work on the Bengaluru-Nidaghatta section. The appointed date for work on six-laning of the Nidaghatta-Mysuru section has not been declared,” said the note from the Ministry. 

Of the total cost of the project that is approximately Rs. 7,400 crore, about Rs. 2,270 crore has already been spent. The scheduled completion time for six-laning of the Bengaluru-Nidaghatta-Mysuru road stretch is 30 months from the appointed date. 

The Ministry reply also stated that the project has been taken up under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase I approved by the Government of India, under which Bengaluru to Mysuru stretch is envisaged as an Economic Corridor.

The Union Government, in 2014, had declared the earlier State Highway 17 and State Highway 88 as National Highway No. 275. The widening project will begin from Panchamukhi Ganesha Temple after Kengeri town near Bengaluru and ends at Columbia Asia Hospital junction on the Mysuru Ring Road in Mysuru.

The NHAI has awarded the project to Bhopal-based Dilip Buildcon and the project is fully funded by the Centre including the distribution of compensation for the land acquired.  The Company has taken up the highway works in two packages. 

The first package covers the development of 56.1 kms highway stretch from Bengaluru to Nidaghatta in Maddur taluk at the cost of Rs. 3,000 crore including 900 acres of land acquisition. Over 80 per cent land acquisition has been completed.

The second package of works includes the development of 61.2 km highway from Nidaghatta to Mysuru at the cost of Rs.3,500 crore. Over 1,121 acres of land will be acquired for the second package works and 60 percent of land has been acquired.

The project is being taken up under new Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) adopted by NHAI. As per this, NHAI will fund just 40 per cent of the total project cost while the remaining 60 per cent will be invested by the contractor or developer. The contractor/investor will get fixed annual revenue while the Highway Authority takes care of the toll collection.

The Company has taken up both the package works after setting base camps for every 20 kilometres. Six bypass roads will be constructed at Srirangapatna, Mandya, Maddur, Channapattana, Ramanagara and Bidadi. An estimated 36,000 vehicles ply between the two cities everyday and traffic density has increased for now.

Source: starofmysore.com/mysuru-bengaluru-highway-to-be-completed-by-mid-2022/