Deccan Herald             25.11.2013 

45 roads to be developed under TenderSURE

 The BBMP has decided to develop 45 roads
covering 72 km under the TenderSURE (Specifications for Urban Road
Execution) scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore.

These
roads will cost three times more than the normal tar roads, and require
minimum maintenance and last for a longer period, about 20 years.

“The
government has already sanctioned about Rs 200 crore, the rest the
Palike will pool in,” said BBMP Commissioner Lakshminarayana. Work on
the TenderSURE roads that have been designed by a City-based NGO will be
executed by private builders. Civic agencies including BWSSB and Bescom
will work on a common platform with the BBMP to ensure that the plan is
properly executed.

Lakshminarayana said there will be uniform
pedestrian walks, cycle paths, utility depths and bus bays, which will
ensure that the roads are maintained well for long. A separate channel
would be created for all the utilities to be laid under the roads, by
digging either side of the road. 

“To lay normal roads, it
takes a week’s time, while construction of road under TenderSURE will
take a year. Once these 45 roads are built, we will take up another 30
roads,” he explained. The NAPC has been assigned the task to lay seven
roads covering a stretch of 9.15 km. “The plan was sent to the Cabinet
thrice and was sent back without approval. The fourth time the
government accepted the proposal,” he said.

Kiran Mazumder Shaw
of Biocon said no one came forward initially when the tender was
floated. “Capital investment to build such roads will be higher.
However, it is going to give us back much more,” she said.

“It is
for the first time in the country that any government has taken an
initiative to re-design roads similar to the one in front of the UB
City,” said Shaw.

Ugandhar Dhanyamraju, Chief Operating Officer,
NAPC, said every effort will be made to ensure minimum inconvenience is
caused. “Stretches as small as 500 metres would be dug at once and most
work will be done only in the night,” he said.

Dhanyamraju said
that the entire month of December would be spent on micro-planning to
look into the strategies such as traffic diversions, prioritising the
roads and other associated aspects. “We hope to begin with St Marks
Road,” he added. The NAPC will use an electro-magnetic sensor to mark
the utilities.

On a pilot basis

Swathi Ramanathan, an
architect from Jana Urban Space, who has designed 12 roads, said that
the project was started in 2009. “Warton Road and Vittal Mallya Road
were taken up on a pilot basis. Even now, you can see how the roads
are,” she said.  

MLA Haris said they would have skywalks with escalators near schools to ensure safety when the work is on.

As
the work progresses, it will be updated on the website
www.ichangemycity.com, which will also act as a forum for the people to
post their problems.