The Hindu : Malaysian offer on highway accepted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 10, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Malaysian offer on highway accepted

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Sept. 9. The Malaysian Government's offer to upgrade the 220-km. Mysore-Bantwal State Highway at a cost of Rs. 320 crore has been accepted, in principle, by the State Government which is expected to take a decision on the offer in a month, the Public Works Minister, Dharam Singh, has said.

The offer includes reconstruction of bridges and culverts and 63 CD works and providing seven-metre-wide roads except in the ghat sections where it will be 5.5 metres wide. Proposals for bypasses were submitted as a separate entity, Mr. Singh told presspersons here today.

Malaysia had also submitted four proposals for payment, including "bullet payment" for the three-year construction period. The bullet payment, however, involved payment of an additional Rs. 120 crore. The other proposal was deferred payment over a period of seven to ten years, during which period the Malaysian Government would take the responsibility for the maintenance of the road.

Mr. Singh said the road came within the "right of way" of the Public Works Department. The upgradation of the highway would not lead to the felling of many trees in the ghat section. The exact number of trees that would have to be felled was yet to be worked out.

Asked about the progress of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project, Mr. Singh said Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise, the firm implementing the project, had to deposit Rs. 450 crore towards the cost of land acquisition. Work would start immediately after this was done.

Meanwhile, since the four-lane expressway would take about seven years to complete, the Government was now contemplating a two-lane 62 km. bitumen road which could be completed in 24 months. The matter would now go before the Cabinet.

Referring to the Rs. 2,030-crore World Bank-assisted project to upgrade 950 km. of State roads and "rehabilitate" 1,300 km. of roads over a three-year period, Mr. Singh said the project would be completed in two phases by 2004. The first phase was expected to be completed by December.

Mr. Singh said the Government revised the Schedule of Rates for public works last month. The rates had not been revised for the past three years. The new rates provided for an average increase of eight per cent for buildings and 10 to 12 per cent for roads, he added.

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Malaysian offer on highway accepted