Four-year plan to implement 65-km peripheral ring road in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: The Urban Development Department (UDD) has chalked out a fouryear plan to implement the much-delayed Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project. The 65-km PRR will complete the portion of NICE Road — between Tumakuru Road and Hosur Road — to make it a full circle.

“We received approval from the state Cabinet last week. The government has agreed to fund the entire cost of land acquisition. We will be inviting bids for the construction work in the next 3-4 months,” Mahendra Jain, additional chief secretary at UDD, told ET.

In October 2017, the government incorporated a special purpose vehicle called Bengaluru PRR Development Corporation for speedy implementation of the project, estimated to cost Rs 17,313 crore.

The government has the huge task of acquiring 1,810 acres of land either in the form of transferable development rights (TDR) or land-to-land compensation or cash. As about 80% of land is to be acquired through cash compensation, the government estimates the cost to be Rs 10,176 crore. BDA commissioner Rakesh Singh said taking possession of land 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 said.

The construction of the PRR, which is likely to cost Rs 6,885 crore, will be taken up under a public-private partnership. The government, meanwhile, is looking at raising a long-term loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to fund a part of the infrastructure cost.

WIDER THAN THE OUTER RING ROAD
The proposed PRR will be wider than the 65-km Outer Ring Road and 41-km NICE Road. While the ORR has six lanes (plus four service lanes) and NICE Road comprises four lanes (plus two shoulder lanes), the PRR is designed to include an eight-lane main road and four-lane service roads. A wide median is planned to accommodate mass transportation systems such as the Metro in future.

THE THIRD RING ROAD
The PRR will be the third ring road of Bengaluru, after the inner ring road and outer ring road that witness heavy traffic. The PRR in the northern loop will connect an existing toll road (NICE Road), which forms the southern loop of a ring. The project road, between Tumakuru Road and Hosur Road, connects 10 major highways, including Hesaraghatta Road, Doddaballapura Road, Ballari Road, Hennur- Bagalur Road, Hoskote-Anekal Road and Sarjapur Road. Overall, it intersects four national highways and five state highways.

DOUBLE THE ORIGINAL COST
The state government had in 2016 approved the construction of the PRR at a cost of Rs 3,850 crore. The latest estimates, however, show that the cost is likely to be almost double, at Rs 6,100 crore. This includes operations and maintenance (O&M) cost for 12 years. The land acquisition cost has gone up from Rs 8,100 crore in 2016 to Rs 10,176 crore. The project will be taken up under the hybrid annuity model, with the government contributing 40% of the project cost through annual payments. The remaining payment will be made based on the performance of the developer. The government will have the right of levying toll and not the developer.