Bengaluru: As the BDA prepares to build the controversial Rs 2,000-crore steel flyover amid rising protests, the BBMP is quietly prepping up to give life to its pet project, a four-lane steel flyover from Minerva Circle to Hudson Circle.
For more than six years now, the BBMP's proposal to build a steel flyover has been in limbo, as the agency never found bidders to take part in the tender process. However, a highly placed source in the BBMP revealed that the agency has found a few companies that have expressed interest to build the flyover on build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. While the BBMP is in the final stages of closing the tendering process, the source maintained that tender for the project will be floated within a month.
“The steel flyover from Minerva Cirlcle to Hudson Circle will be 2.35 km long and will cost less than Rs 150 crore and not thousands of crores like the BDA's steel flyover. Although the project has remained on paper for more than half a decade, it finally seems to be taking shape. If this steel flyover is open to public traffic, half the problems on Ballari Road will be addressed,” the source said.
The source added that in June, although the BBMP Council passed a resolution to hand over the flyover project to Bridge and Roof Limited (B&R), a Government of India enterprise, to construct the four-lane steel flyover from Minerva Circle, the BBMP officials and "money-minded contractors" did not support the project, the source maintains.
“The firm had constructed some of the exemplary steel flyovers in West Bengal and was one of the most trusted firms. However, the contractor lobby in the city saw to it that the tender was not awarded to them and the project remained on paper. Now, we have decided that there is no backing off from this project," the source said. The BBMP has floated a fresh tender and approached B&R as no contractor has shown interest in the project and the project stayed on ice.
