TIMES OF INDIA, Bangalore Edition.
19-dec-2008
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STOP, PAY, ZIP
From Thursday, motorists on the peripheral and link roads of the 13-year-old Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project had to pay a toll. It marks a significant milestone in infrastructure projects in Karnataka.
— Tulika Singh
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Bangalore: The drive was smooth on Day 1 on NICE’s tolled peripheral road. But even with the users giving the nod to the quality of the road, it was hard to miss the traffic pile-up at the manual toll booths.
Channelled through three different routes — covering Hosur Road, Bannerghatta Road, Kanakapura Road, Mysore Road, Magadi Road and Tumkur Road — the peripheral road comes with greenery on the flanks. If feedback on the first day is any indication, the road has found favour with the commuter. “The roads are smooth. But we had to wait for some time at the booths,’’ Tushar, a college student taking the road for the first time, said.
The toll tariff is Rs 21 for cars, Rs 8 for two-wheelers and Rs 36 for heavy vehicles. The first day had its good share of truck traffic on the routes as well. Shivakumar Sangoli, associate vice-president, NICE, said the two-lane system was helping to ensure that the roads were not choking.
The Hosur route, at present, has two manual booths operating. With the electronic toll booth system yet to take off, it was all manual on the road, at times leading to minor logjams near the booths. According to NICE representatives, the electronic toll system will start functioning within a week, on all the routes.
Six booths will be created in all, regulating traffic faster and smoother. Now it’s taking about a minute to cover the payment and issuance of receipt, and once the electronic booths are up and running, it could be done in a matter of a few seconds, according to the officials.
On Thursday, NICE officials were seen signing receipts and issuing them. The manual toll fee system was opened only on Wednesday night.
PROJECT BMIC
The venture:
Develop infrastructure and improve vehicular traffic between Bangalore and Mysore, and within Bangalore
The promise:
Cut down travel time to 1.5 hrs from 3.5 hrs
1995:
Karnataka govt approves Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project (BMICP); Kalyani Group of Companies and SAB International Ltd form Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises Ltd (NICE) to develop Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis Then CM H D Deve Gowda signs contract
April 3, 1997:
Framework Agreement (constitution of project) signed with NICE by then CM J H Patel
IN NUMBERS
Primary features
41 km of peripheral road connecting NH4 (Bangalore-Pune highway), Magadi Road, Mysore Road, Kanakapura Road, Bannerghatta Road, NH7 (Hosur Road) 9-km link road, connecting city centre to expressway and 111-km expressway connecting Bangalore to Mysore.
Benefits
World-class infrastructure, peripheral road to help heavy truck traffic bypass Bangalore, decongest city
Three phases
Phase 1: 41 km peripheral road, 9 km link road and 12 km expressway connecting first township of corporate centre near Bidadi
Phase 2: Two townships — commercial centre and industrial centre; construction of 13 km of expressway
Phase 3: Two townships — heritage centre and ecotourism centre; remaining portion of expressway; 3 km of elevated link road (connecting city centre to link road)
NICE estimate
Rs 2,250 cr (land acquisition and road component); total investment over Rs 18,000 cr
Special features
Five townships with schools, hospitals, parks, recreation, water and power supply, telecommunication links, sewage treatment facilities
Corporate centre:
Headquarters and R&D facilities
Commercial centre:
Retail light industry and municipal support services
Industrial centre:
Focal point for durable goods, industrial R&D
Heritage centre:
Lake with buildings housing arts, crafts, traditional healing facilities etc
Eco-tourism centre:
Nature parks, theme parks, cultural arts centre
‘Road is lovely...’
The toll is a good idea; it was supposed to be a tolled road. But a major problem remains on the Hosur Road-Bannerghatta Road section, which is the stretch at Gottigere lake that has not been completed yet. Despite that, nearly 25% of the traffic between the two roads takes the BMIC road (instead of going around to the Silk Board junction). If that stretch too can be completed quickly and trucks are mandated to take the BMIC road all the way between Tumkur Road and Hosur Road, it will help to significantly decongest central Bangalore. Our lives have become unlivable in Bangalore today because of traffic congestion. We spend 2.5 to 3 hours each day on the road.
T V Mohandas Pai |
HR DIRECTOR, INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES
The BMIC Road is a lovely road — very safe, the gradient is very low, so you can speed, avoid braking. The toll you pay can be made up in the fuel you save on account of the higher speed and less braking.
Bevin Thomas |
FORMER COMMITTEE MEMBER OF ELECTRONICS CITY INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION
NICE RIDE AHEAD: A stretch of Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor from Mysore Road to Hosur Road (Below) The toll booth which began operating on Thursday