BENGALURU: Nearly four months after a proposal to form a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to implement the Rs 11,950-crore Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project was mooted, it finally became a reality on July 18. This brings a sliver of hope of compensation to hundreds of farmers whose lands have been acquired in connection with the project without any payment.
The SPV was formed in the name of Bangalore Development Corporation Ltd with the Registrar of Companies, said a top BDA official.
Apart from BDA, the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation, BBMP, BMTC, BESCOM, BWSSB and the state government’s Town and Country Planning Department are partners in this independent body.
The 65-km eight-lane road project, aimed at decongesting vehicular traffic in the city, was conceived in 2006. The whopping Rs 8,100 crore that needed to be paid to farmers as compensation for the acquisition of 1,910 acres of land needed for the project caused it to come to a standstill due to paucity of funds with the BDA. Japan International Cooperation Agency has agreed to fund Rs 3,850 crore of the project cost.
BDA Engineer-Member P N Nayak said, “The National Highways Authority of India has been entrusted with the role of preparing the Detailed Project Report for it.”
During the visit of former Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu to the city, the project was discussed and has been sent for inclusion under the Prime Minister’s ‘Bharatmala’ scheme, which aims at constructing 20,000 km of highways across the country. “The project may get 50 per cent funding from the Centre under this scheme,” said another official.
Meanwhile, the SPV is also looking at generating nearly Rs 9,918 crore by levy of betterment tax on properties lying within a 1-km distance on both sides of the road and other ways. BDA officials, were however, not able to specify a timeline on when the project may be completed.