Tendersure. are you  sure ?

Despite having cost D200 crore for a mere 16km, TenderSURE projects fail to deliver the world-class roads and pavements that were promised
Tendersure. are you  sure ?

BENGALURU: They were touted to be of international standards and make life easy for pedestrians and motorists alike. But, despite the high cost, TenderSURE roads in the city have been found wanting on several fronts.
Arjun Burgula, who commutes via Richmond Road, sums up the good and the bad of these roads — “The footpaths are much better and the visual aspect is good with the nice, yellow lines. However, I feel the width of the carriageway has reduced, and the congestion is no better than before. People still jump signals and two-wheelers ride on the footpaths.”

The roads have also developed problems which might appear trivial, but considering that the cost per km of these roads averages `10-12 crore, about six times the `2 crore for regular roads, only the best is expected. Last week, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that 40 more roads will be taken up under the project, bringing the total roads to 90.
An overflowing manhole on Cunningham Road has led to water stagnating, leading to deterioration of the condition of the road.

A portion of the footpath is missing on Commissariat Road. Thimme Gowda, who runs a stall here, said that according to the people who were carrying out the road work, the patch was left as laying slabs would affect tree roots.
The footpath on Vittal Mallya Road has caved in at one place where some pedestrians have reportedly taken a fall. The bicycle lanes on Museum Road and Richmond Road are always packed with two-wheeler riders.

Traffic expert M N Sreehari said, “No scientific studies have been done prior to the project. The only good is the incorporation of a duct system for service utilities.” He added that wide footpaths (like on Residency Road) will lead to further traffic congestion of traffic.
Dr Ashish Verma, professor of civil engineering at IISC, said the project was to demonstrate that a government body was capable of carrying out good engineering work.

Reports say when the CM inspected the roads, he had asked for width of the footpaths to be reduced on the upcoming roads. However, BBMP chief engineer (roads) K T Nagaraj says — “The footpath has to have a minimum width of 2.5-3 mt to accommodate all service utilities. On St Mark’s Road, we wanted to maintain the width of the carriageway without cutting trees on the footpath, so we extended its width. The width of footpaths on upcoming roads won’t be reduced.”

The incorporation of utility ducts has resolved a major issue for civic agencies. An official of the Optical Fibre Cable department of BBMP said, “We receive complaints about how newly asphalted roads are dug up overnight. This happens due to lack of coordination between various agencies. But now, on TenderSURE roads, KPTCL, BESCOM and BWSSB don’t need to dig.”

BBMP chief engineer Nagaraj said he had received two complaints regarding the roads. He said the first one, regarding the water on Cunningham Road, was caused by an overflowing manhole near Mt Carmel College. The stretch hadn’t been asphalted because BWSSB wanted to lay a separate sanitary line there. “But they now say they won’t lay the line, so the road will be asphalted.” The second issue involves sinking of the earth on Nrupatunga Road near PWD compound. This will also be rectified by the firm concerned, he said. The private firms constructing the roads have a defect liability period of two years and have to carry out maintenance for three more years.

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