Work on BIAL second terminal to commence next year

The work on laying of the second runway at Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) will be taken up next year.

"Once the Rs 1000-crore expansion programme, taken up last year, is completed, work on the second runway will be taken up," Hyderabad-based GVK group Chairman GVK Reddy told reporters on the sidelines of Regional Celebration of Civil Aviation Centre, organised by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited here.

He said the company would commence work on the third runway in next 10 to 15 years. "The ongoing expansion programme of widening the terminal from 72,000 sq m to 1.34 lakh sq m was progressing well," he said.Infrastructure provider group GVK has 29 per cent stake in BIAL.

Metro Reach 4 Update -Jayanagar to KR Road

NAMMA METRO CHUGS PAST LAST HURDLE

Karnataka asks Centre to not levy toll on road to Bangalore airport till 2013

Motorists apprehending enforcement of toll collection on the road to Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) can now hope that their fears may turn out to be untrue, afterall, as the state government has decided to impress upon the Union government not to levy the toll till 2013.

The issue of imposing the toll, which had led to strong protests recently, was discussed in the state cabinet meeting on Thursday and it was decided to take up the issue strongly with the Union surface transport ministry.

“The project agreement with NHAI clearly says that toll could be collected on airport road only after the service roads and the elevated road is completed. The works are scheduled to be completed by 2013. The chief minister will convey the state’s stand to Union surface transport minister soon,” secretariat sources said.

The state government is ready to accept any proposal from NHAI to levy the toll before completing these works, if the toll booths are located beyond the airport trumpet interchange on the Bellary Road.

BDA to build flyovers and underpasses between Agara Lake and St Johns Hospital junction

For the next 15 months,all those commuters travelling through St Johns Hospital to Sarjapur are in for a tough time.

As part of the signal-free corridor from Agara Lake to Sirsi Circle,the BDA will begin work on four junctions - Jakkasandra Junction,Aishwarya Hotel junction (in front of Police Public School),Krupanidhi College and the Water Tank Junction (St Johns Junction) simultaneously and most of the five km stretch is going to be dug up.

If that does not sound ominous enough,here is another piece of news.

The line of trees that make it possible to withstand the wait as the red light turns into green will be chopped down.

After the BBMP and the BMRCL wielded the axe for infrastructure projects,it is now the turn of the BDA to chop down 150 trees on the stretch.

The BDA,which had begun work at the Aishwarya Hotel junction,has grand plans for the stretch.The project is part of the C 8 signal-free corridor running from Sirsi Circle to Agara Lake via Lalbagh Fort Road.

The aim is to reduce travel time between HSR Layout and the corporation,and thereafter to the Central Business District.

The four junctions will have a combination of flyovers and underpasses (see box for details) to divide a very dense stretch,which has a Passenger Car Unit (PCU) of more than 15,000.

The entire signal-free corridor,which measures about nine km,will also include an elevated expressway from TR Mill to St Johns.Work of the expressway will begin at a later date,according to BDA executive engineer Nagendra,who is overseeing the project.The estimated cost for these four junctions is about Rs 199.38 crore.

The entire project,which was originally the brainchild of the BBMP,was handed over to the BDA after it was found that the Palike had no money.

But BDA,which has barricaded almost half the road at the Aishwarya Hotel Junction,has angered travellers.

Aneesh Kamath,who travels from Banashankari to ITPL,said,Without any warning,you cut off almost half the road of such a busy junction creating such problems for commuters.They should have at least made an announcement on the matter. 

Others,meanwhile,question the need for the loss of green cover for the project.

The road is almost 120 feet wide.These trees were very essential and a much needed relief for long distance travellers.Just how much of our green cover will we have to lose 

The peak hours are about three to four hours put together and even then,there is no traffic jam that we face, says Deepa Modi of JP Nagar.

Though the forest cell is yet to give the clearance,the BDA estimates that at least 150 trees will have to go.Most of them are old rain trees with large green canopies.

But in a bid to pacify environmentalists and tree lovers,Nagendra said,We will be transplanting many of the younger trees and will try and save as many.If you look at the previous estimate of the number of trees that the BBMP had planned to chop down,150 is quite a conservative number. 

Conservative or not,Bangalore is set to lose another piece of its green cover.

WHAT IS COMING WHERE 

• Jakkasandra Jn,Uni-side flyover,Length - 1 km 
• Aishwarya Hotel Jn,Underpass,Length - 95 m 
• Krupanidhi College Jn,Underpass,Length -95 m 
• Water Tank Jn,Grade separator,Flyover length - 750 m,Underpass length - 80 m

The BDA will begin work simultaneously at Jakkasandra,Aishwarya Hotel,Krupanidhi College and at Water Tank junctions

Sadananda Gowda Inaugurates State-of-the-Art Road Near Airport

Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda inaugurated the 2.2 km long widened and redeveloped road built in conformity with global standards and donated by NRI businessman and philanthropist Ronald Colaco in Bangalore on NH 7 near Bangalore International Airport.

The road is built at a cost of Rs 4.4 crore, apart from Ronald Colaco donating his own commercial land for the purpose with a market value of nearly Rs. 7.5 crores. It covers villages like Sadahalli, Navaratna Agrahara and Bovipallya Village and also connects the residential townships of Hollywood and Swiss Townships.

This road will benefit about 155 families of Navarathna and Bovipallya villages, about 50 existing and eventually 260 families of Hollywood Town and 60 and eventually 750 families of Swiss Township. The road built to conform to global standards includes a central median, storm water drain and provisions for conduits all along and across the road on important junctions with necessary chambers to avoid any digging of the road in future for any utility work, if needed. If the government agencies, BDA/Corporation also follow this practice with proper plan, taking into account future developments as and when the layouts are created, hundreds of crores of amount can be saved to the exchequer avoiding all sorts of road diggings and repairs each time a house or building comes up requiring utility connections (water, electricity, telephone, optic fiber or sewage).