Wear and tear will always be there in any works, says NHAI project director
BENGALURU: Project Director of Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway project Sridhar on Wednesday stated that the ‘wear and tear’ will always be there on any works (on the quality of works on the newly inaugurated Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway) and he cited an example that “A footwear you buy will be sold that it would last for two-years. Does it last for such a time?”
Reacting to the defect at an Expansion Joint near Bidadi on the National Highway, he told reporters in Ramanagar “It’s a metal joint defect” and it has occurred owing to impact of over speeding vehicles the wielding part of the metal joint had impact on it. “It (metal joint defect) has not happened in three-days,” he said and pointed out that vehicles have been operating from Bidadi on Highway for four months.”
Responding to the opposition over user fee collection started since Tuesday wherein commuters have displeasure over the user fixed, Sridhar said, “I’m not the competent authority” but stated that he has brought the opposition over collection of user fee on Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway to the notice of the higher officials to take appropriate action.
On user fee collection, he said, Union Government has given use fee collection to Skylark Company for a period of three-months with daily remittance of Rs 62 lakh.
Over the Project completion, Sridhar pointed out that the Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway project got cancelled thrice in 2017 by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs of the Union Government over high of the civil works on the project.
Adding, he said, the cost should be Rs 16 crore for a kilometer but the project cost went upto Rs 33 crore because of many structures (underpass and overpasses) coming in the way. Engineers of NHAI brought the cost from Rs 38 crore a km to Rs 33 a kilometer before it got okayed by the Union Government.
Sridhar said that underpasses and overpasses numbering 89 have been constructed to prevent high speed vehicle conflicts on the National Highway.
To a query on flooding of Highway near Ramanagar in the previous year, Sridhar blamed it on excess rainfall and pointed out that there was a rainfall of 192 mm on a single day which resulted in the flooding of the Highway.
