“We are hopeful of completing two to three months earlier than the deadline as we are speeding things up with constant supervision and periodic reviews,” Simha told ET.
There will be entry and exit points at Bidadi, Ramanagara, Channapattana, Maddur, Mandya and Srirangapattana, said Simha. There will also be food and recreational facilities on either side of the expressway at one location, he said.
The project cost will cross Rs 8,500 crore due to cost escalations and addition of new features due to demands from locals along the way, said Simha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the project in Mysuru on February 19, 2018, and the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared it the next day. The National Highways Authority of India awarded the project the same month under the hybrid annuity model.
The project is an economic corridor with lots of investment opportunities along the way and will boost tourist arrivals in Mysuru city, Bandipur and Nagarhole national parks, besides helping people travelling to the neighbouring Kerala and Tamil Nadu, said the MP.
Dilip Buildcon, a Bhopal-based construction firm, is building the expressway, which is expected to cut the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru to 90 minutes, and that would cheer the IT industry, among others. Mysuru has not been able to attract investments in the IT sector despite Infosys landing there more than a decade ago.
The existing four-lane road has already crossed its capacity, resulting in traffic jams and accidents. The road passes through congested and thickly populated towns and settlements such as Maddur, Mandya and Srirangapatna.
The expressway, when commissioned, will have 10 lanes, including two-lane service roads on either side and three-lane main carriageway in each direction. The expressway will come up between the Panchamukhi temple after NICE road in Bengaluru and Columbia Asia hospital junction in Mysuru.
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