BENGALURU: Union Minister for Roads and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday informed that an
international consultant will be asked to study the traffic congestion of IT capital Bengaluru and submit a preliminary report in three months on the feasibility of implementing either sky bus or trolley bus operation.
“Since the land acquisition is a tough task to expand mass rapid transport, skybuses as operational in places like Singapore could be a solution and we will extend financial help. Bengaluru is an important city of the country and houses research institutes, besides being an IT hub. We are looking at the city’s traffic congestion seriously and trying to find solutions. If one lakh people travel by skybuses, it will certainly decongest traffic”, he said at a press conference on the sidelines of a two-day national conference ‘Manthan - Idea to Action’, held in the city.
International agencies like Doppelmayr of Austria and Puma of France are likely to be approached to conduct the study, he disclosed. Gadkari however admitted that there were shortcomings in constructing drains on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Express Highway which he said will be rectified. “It is also true that unprecedented heavy rain caused the deluge as the project was implemented based on the average rainfall of five years. I admit that the system should have been strong enough to withstand even the unprecedented situation with precasting in place”, he said. After the project is completed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be requested to inaugurate the highway, he added.
‘Will study drains on road to Mys’
Gadkari apologised for the delay in fixing the flyover at Goraguntepalya on Tumakuru Road. “The Navyug contractors who had executed the project earlier were not in position to take up the upgrading of the flyover. Hence, new contractors will be assigned the work and will be given a deadline of three months to complete the project”, he said.
Meanwhile, CM Basavaraj Bommai also said that Gadkari has promised to take steps to upgrade the flyover by identifying a new implementing agency. “The audit of the drains on the entire stretch of Bengaluru-Mysuru Express Highway will reveal the drawbacks and show ways to take up remedial measures”, Bommai had said.
Earlier, Gadkari claimed that in his seven years as a Union minister, there has not been a single complaint of corruption even though he has executed projects to the tune of Rs 50 lakh crore.