chennai: Chennai Specific pulls in

Lastly, the work on the lengthy delayed Bengaluru-Chennai expressway has begun. It is a key infrastructure mission for town and has been in limbo since its first announcement within the Nineteen Nineties.

The NHAI is now executing the mission underneath the Hybrid Annuity Mannequin (HAM).The entire highway mission has been divided into 10 packages. Out of this, the 72-km size of highway falls underneath Karnataka territory and has been divided into three packages. “Out of the three packages, we’ve begun work in two packages totalling the size of 54 km. We anticipate the work to be accomplished in two years. So far as the final bundle is anxious, the tenders have been awarded, settlement has been signed, the concessionaire is within the strategy of fulfilling sure situations and the work might begin by subsequent month,” mentioned a NHAI official.

Nonetheless, the work is but to start out in Andhra Pradesh or Tamil Nadu.

This would be the first Greenfield expressway in south India slicing throughout Hoskote, Malur (Karnataka), V Kota, Palamaner (Andhra Pradesh), Gudiyatam, Arakkonam and Sriperumbudur (Tamil Nadu). By the way, this would be the shortest distance between Bengaluru and Chennai with distance diminished to 250 km (Greenfield space) from Hoskote to Sriperumbadur.

An officer mentioned initially that they had deliberate to scale back the gap additional; nevertheless, it was not attainable because the highway was to move by means of Jap Ghats. The officers feared it could not get the required clearance from the Ministry of Setting, so the highway shall now bypass the Jap Ghats. The mission is ready to have a world-class freeway with roads designed to cater to the pace of 120 km ph. The highway embankment can be 3-6 m above the bottom to keep away from distractions.

Greater toll

The NHAI estimates that it could should spend Rs 15-16 crore to construct a km of the highway. The toll on this highway can be larger than the toll paid on the opposite NHAI roads.

“As it’s an access-controlled expressway, the toll can be larger although we’ve not finalised the charges but,” mentioned the officer. In the meantime, the NHAI is planning to have another highway from Bengaluru metropolis centre to the expressway, from Hoskote: “Proper now, the Bengaluru-Mulbagal highway’s toll gate is positioned close to Hoskote. The Bengaluru-Chennai expressway begins at this level. Customers might not prefer to pay at two toll gates concurrently. So, we’re contemplating connecting the expressway to NH 207 (Hosur to Dobbspet). It’s nonetheless within the preliminary days and must be finalised,” added the official.

.

Alternate options

By the way, the brand new expressway would be the shortest distance between Bengaluru and Chennai. At present, there are three routes connecting the 2 cities. The visitors quantity between the 2 cities is excessive. Greater than 9,500 PCUs journey from Bengaluru to Chennai on the prevailing roads each hour. Essentially the most used highway is through Hosur and Krishnagiri (golden quadrilateral) with roughly 380 km between the 2 cities. As this highway is four-lane and passes by means of solely two states, it’s excessively used. Nonetheless, with many cities en route and off Krishnagiri, the journey is time consuming. The second route is the Outdated Madras Highway traversing between Kolar and Chittoor. Although this route is relatively shorter than Hosur Highway (roughly 340 km), it’s not a lot most well-liked for 2 causes; one, it’s a two-lane highway and secondly, it passes by means of three states. (Non-public autos desist utilizing this highway as they have to pay a number of entry taxes). The third route is a shorter route between Bangalore and Chennai passing by means of Kolar-KGF-V Kota and Vellore. This highway is least most well-liked because it passes by means of the ghat part (between V Kota and Pernambut) and the highway just isn’t in good situation.

Lengthy pending mission

The Bangalore-Chennai expressway has been within the pipeline for a very long time. The mission was first introduced by the then finance minister P Chidambaram in his Union price range speech within the Nineteen Nineties. Nonetheless, the mission didn’t materialise again then.