Congress Wins Karnataka: Eight Big Ticket Infrastructure Projects That Could Face Indifference From The New Government

The people have spoken. As the current trends hold, the Congress will be coming back to form a government in Karnataka, but with a complete majority this time.

While the details of a Congress administration will be known in time, a pertinent question that poses itself is: what's next for the big-ticket infrastructure projects in the state?

As evident by the change of government in Maharashtra in 2019, and as observed generally over the past two decades, a change of government from the BJP/NDA to Congress/UPA does have consequences for big infrastructure projects.

Karnataka, where the BJP-led government prioritised infrastructure development, may well now be staring at delays in mega projects and inflated construction costs.

Here are eight such projects that risk indifference or lags :

1) Bengaluru Suburban Railway Project

The commuter rail network comprises of four corridors, and 57 stations, and covers 148.17 km. KRIDE, a joint venture of the Government of Karnataka and the Ministry of Railways, is tasked with the implementation of the project.

This project was first proposed in 1983 by a southern railways expert team and was estimated to span 58 km. The proposal was included in Karnataka's first transportation survey, commissioned by then-chief minister R Gundu Rao.

But it was only on 20 June 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation for the suburban rail project in the city.

2) Nandi Hills Ropeway Project

Nandi hills, located in the Chikkaballapura district, is 60 km from the city and is among the preferred weekend getaways for residents of Bengaluru. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had laid the foundation for construction of a 2.93-km ropeway to Nandi Hills, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, to be taken up at a cost of Rs 93.40 crore.

The ropeway is expected to be operational in the next 32-33 months by March 2025.

3) Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC)

Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor will see accelerated development and regional industry agglomeration in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

On 6 February, earlier this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the groundwork for the first industrial corridor project in south India, which would be built near Tumakuru.

4) The Second Longest Highway In India (Surat–Chennai Expressway)

The Surat–Chennai Expressway will pass through six states- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

In January 23, In his Karnataka visit, PM Modi had laid the foundation stone for two greenfield sections of this six-lane expressway at Kodekal, Yadgir District.

The length of these two expressway sections are 65.5 km and 71 km. They will be developed at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore and Rs 2,100 crore respectively.

5) Bengaluru-Vijayawada Expressway

Bengaluru-Vijayawada Expressway, estimated to cost Rs 19,200 crore, will be executed via 14 packages.

The proposed expressway, envisaged as a combination of greenfield alignment and brownfield upgrades, is divided into three major sections: Brownfield Upgrade: NH-44 from Bengaluru (Karnataka) to Kodikonda (Karnataka-Andhra border), 73 km Greenfield Section: Kodikonda to Addanki (Andhra), 342 km Brownfield Upgrade: NH-16 from Vijayawada to Addanki (Andhra), 113 km.

The expressway was expected to be opened for public use by 2025 - 2026.

6) Upper Bhadra Irrigation Project

The ambitious project under the aegis of Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Ltd aims to irrigate 2.25 lakh hectares using 29.9 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water from Tunga and Bhadra rivers, the right bank tributaries of Krishna river.

The plan is to utilise the water from these rivers for micro-irrigation in the drought prone areas of central Karnataka, namely, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Davanagere, and Tumakuru.

In February 2023, Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai announced that the high-powered steering committee under the Central Water Commission (CWC) of Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) had granted the national project status to Upper Bhadra Irrigation Project in Karnataka. 

7) Bengaluru Peripheral Ring Road Project

The project is significant to Bangalore city because it is expected to address serious traffic challenges. According to local authorities and the state government, Bengaluru needs PRR given the massive geographical expansion of the city to the current spread of 2196 sq km and explosive growth of vehicular ownership (2019 estimate – over 80 lakhs). The ring road is also expected to provide massive economic benefits.

In late March this year, the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) finally received approvals from the Union environment committee for the project. These same approvals been stalled due to several discrepancies and hurdles related to environmental clearances and land acquisitions.

8) Pune-Bengaluru Expressway

Estimated to be developed at a cost of Rs 50,000 Crore under the Phase-2 of the Prime Minister's flagship Bharatmala scheme, the proposed expressway will originate at Kanjale on the under construction ring road in Pune and terminate at Muthugadahalli in Doddaballapur taluk of Karnataka connecting to Bengaluru via the Satellite Ring Road.

At Pune, the expressway will also connect to the Pune-Mumbai expressway.

In Karnataka, this expressway is planned to pass through Belagavi, Bagalkot, Gadag, Koppal, Vijayanagara, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Tumakuru,Bengaluru Rural in Karnataka.

It is estimated that a total of 5,205 hectares will be required for the project in Karnataka alone.