Bengaluru's Elevated Corridor Project To Cost 3821 Trees!

A Detailed Feasibility report on the Elevated Corridor Project filed by Karnataka Road Development Cooperation Limited to the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority reveals that the once famed Garden City of India could lose its envious green space.

The report suggests that approximately 3821 trees could be cut and around 2084 trees could be pruned or trimmed for the project. These trees include old and massive trees located in the city.

The report, however, makes no suggestion of transplanting any of these trees. The State Govt had proposed a construction of an Elevated Corridor in Bengaluru to ease the traffic situation in the city.

The report says this could lead to ‘deterioration of air quality from construction activities and its impact on air sensitive receptors; increase in noise levels and its impact on noise sensitive receptors like schools, colleges, hospitals due to construction equipment and activities, disturbances to city traffic due to traffic diversions; land use changes by land acquisition to accommodate the traffic lanes’

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The Elevated Corridor Project will have six routes in it:

1. 6 lane NS Corridor Hebbal to Silk Board

2. 6 lane EW 1 Corridor KR Puram to Goraguntepalya

3. 4 lane EW 2 Corridor Varthur Kodi to Jnanabharati

4. 4 lane CC 1 Corridor Agara to Outer Ring Road

5. 4 lane CC 2 Corridor Ulsoor to D’Souza Circle

6. 4 lane CC 3 Corridor Wheeler Road Jn to Kalyan Nagar

The report says that the Total Civic Construction Cost of these 6 routes is expected to be Rs 14,539.92 Crore and the total project cost is expected to be around Rs 19265.39 Crore.

Karnataka Govt in its state budget, on the other hand, had allocated Rs 15825 crore for this project, meaning this project could further burden the already cash-strapped exchequer which is struggling because of the Rs 44,000 Cr farm loan waiver scheme.

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Another big hurdle for this project is land acquisition,141 acres of land and around 1130 buildings need to be acquired for this project. This could be a major task these properties are located in prime areas and chances are residents could refuse to accept the compensation or cost of compensation of these properties could be extremely high.

The report also adds that the objective of this project, that is easing the traffic in the city can only be achieved if Peripheral Ring Road Project, Mass Transit system such as the public transport system and Suburban Rail along with the Metro Rail.