D K Shivakumar defends Bengaluru tunnel roads plan, says widening roads will cost Rs 3 lakh crore
The tunnel roads have been proposed in Bengaluru—from Hebbal to Silk Board and from K R Puram to Mysuru Road.
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D K Shivakumar was responding to media queries on protests planned by the BJP against the tunnel roads project. (Express Photo)Amid criticism against the proposed tunnel roads in Bengaluru, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Wednesday that the project was part of a long-term plan to ease traffic congestion, adding that the cost of widening roads as an alternative would be prohibitive.
The tunnel roads have been proposed from Hebbal to Silk Board and from K R Puram to Mysuru Road.
“(To widen the road) along Bengaluru Palace, government is in a quandary over paying Rs 3,000 crore as TDR compensation. In the tunnel road stretch, if we want to widen the road, then compensation for the land acquired itself would amount to Rs 3 lakh crore,” he said at a news conference.
Shivakumar was responding to media queries on protests planned by the BJP against the tunnel roads project. “When (K J) George (who was formerly Bengaluru development minister) had proposed a steel bridge project, that too was opposed,” he said, adding that the Opposition party was welcome to criticise measures taken to address traffic in the city.
According to projections, the tunnel roads will cost the state exchequer Rs 19,000 crore.
Shivakumar said he was waiting for the BJP leaders to raise the issue of the tunnel roads in the Legislative Assembly during the upcoming budget session of the legislature.
Further, Shivakumar said that a plan was being chalked out to construct flyovers of 160 km and roads of 300 km along storm-water drains in Bengaluru.
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