BENGALURU: Businesses on Cunningham Road are complaining about the delay in completion of works taken up under TenderSURE (Specifications for Urban Road Execution).
They said the work was started without proper planning on the 1.46-km stretch. Among the worst hit due to the work are the restaurants and eateries. Dust, gravel and other remains of the work are all over this stretch, affecting both pedestrians and business establishments alike. The road near Chandrika Hotel is in a bad shape due to the delay in works.
Speaking to Express, Dheeraj Singh, a pan vendor said, “They have dug up in front of my stall at least three times, installing and re-installing cables. It has been almost two years since the works were taken up and still, work in the 2-km stretch is not complete,” he said. After the launch of the road works, revenues from his stall have reduced by almost half, he said.
An employee of Chaipoint said, “While the footpath is ready on one part of the road, it is yet to be completed in the other. Along with that, the debris of the work taken up too isn’t cleared,” he said. Commenting on the lack of drains on the stretch, he said accumulation of water on the road during the current monsoon has already damaged the road.
Work Status
Reports said the deadline to complete the road improvement programme, which was implemented on the stretch at a cost of Rs 18.42 crore, was December 2014.
Though contractors had hoped to finish the work by March 2015, it is still far from complete.
When contacted, BBMP Commissioner Kumar Naik said the works are being reviewed on a regular basis. “Some works are yet to be completed along the stretch. As soon as one stretch is complete, the adjoining stretch of the road will also be taken up,” he added.
Ganesh Nayak, manager of NAPC that has taken up the work, said it would be completed by September-end if the rains don’t disrupt it. He said that only the asphalting work was pending.