News Brief
Bengaluru North-South Tunnel Road: Expert Panel Formed By Karnataka Government To Review DPR For The Project
Representative Image (File Photo)
The Karnataka Urban Development Department has referred the detailed project report (DPR) for Bengaluru’s 16 km North-South tunnel from Hebbal to Silk Board to a government-formed expert committee for review, Indian Express reported.
Headed by BMRCL’s civil executive director S S Heggaradi, the expert panel also includes PWD chief engineer Madhav, tunnel specialist Capt Vinod Shukla, and highway expert Major Ashwath Kumar B.
This comes after Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was extensively criticised for the ‘botched’ Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by Rodic Consultants at a cost of Rs 9 crore.
The report was slammed by citizens for including glaring errors, including a mismatch in traffic analysis and underplaying environmental concerns of the project.
Subsequently, the BBMP had also imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh against the consultants for the alleged ‘copy-paste’ job.
A government order issued in this regard on April 7 states that the committee aims to verify the technical and financial aspects of the ambitious urban tunnel road project mooted by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, aligning with National Highway 7.
As per the government order issued in this regard on 7 April, the panel will vet the technical and financial aspects of the urban tunnel road project pushed by Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, aligning with NH7.
This reportedly comes after a government order approving the construction of the underground vehicular tunnel meant to ease traffic congestion in Bengaluru.
BBMP had reportedly submitted the DPR for administrative nod for the project, but a preliminary review by the Urban Development Department revealed a lack of specialised expertise within its technical cell to evaluate the proposal.
According to the IE report, the committee’s mandate includes:
Verifying the DPR’s completeness: Ensuring all essential components, map designs, and fundamental elements are included in the BBMP’s report.
Checking for redundancies: Identifying any unrealistic or unnecessary elements in the proposal to streamline the project.
Ensuring cost accuracy: Confirming that the estimated costs are adequate and realistic, preventing budgetary overruns.
Highlighting omissions: Detecting any critical elements missing from the DPR that could impact the project’s success.
Providing recommendations: Offering advisory inputs to enhance the project’s design and execution.
BBMP has been instructed to provide all necessary facilities, information, and documents to support the work of the committee, which is tasked to submit its report within three weeks.
