BANGALORE: With an emphasis on removing the bottlenecks in all four-lane national highways, development of national highways around Bangalore is something the UPA government is keen to set right, said Union Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways K H Muniyappa.
Speaking at a press conference here on Saturday, he said that, “All non-performing contracts have been terminated and new contracts have been rewarded.” To provide connectivity from West Coast to East Coast, he informed, the road connecting from Mangalore to Villupuram in Tamil Nadu has been declared as NH 234. Also the road connecting Puthalapattu to Tirupati has been declared as NH 18A. Muniyappa said that during the tenure of UPA Government, massive investment to the tune of about Rs 18,064 crore has been planned for the development of national highways in Karnataka, of which Rs 6,038 crore has already been incurred.
He said that the Centre has decided to take up the proposed expressway project to connect the Outer Ring Road of Bangalore to the Bangalore International Airport under National Highways Development Project of Phase VII on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.
Regarding development of Mysore Airport, he said that the ministry had approved re-alignment of NH 212 for upgrading the Airport.
“A permanent solution for Shirdi Ghat Road to lay concrete road for 23 kms stretch has been planned and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is awaiting estimate report from the Government of Karnataka,” he added.