Gowda's whim: refuses to release land for e'way

[amit]

"His Highness" Deve Gowda has decided that he will not release land for Bangalore's first private urban expressway that would have reduced travel time for ordinary citizens from a ponderous 90 minutes to 10 minutes and all this because the government has refused to allot land for entry and exit ramps on the expressway. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens, major IT companies and even auto major Toyota continue to wait for infrastrucuture to improve.

Mods: I remember there was a Gowda specific thread, but couldn't find it.

[S@~+#0$#]

Hey Amit,
You haven't mentioned which two places this private urban expressway is supposed to connect. Because you say Toyota, I am assuming it is Bangalore-Mysore. Am I right in thinking so?

[black12rr]

Yes he might me talking about banlgaore -mysore link ...
but 90 minutes to 10 minutes ?? ........whats that ..??

[deepakhon]

Yes. It is the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC).

Actually, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) has completed some part of the first phase of BMIC. The first phase comprises of the following:
Link Tumkur Road with Hosur Road.
The expressway itself from Kengeri (the outskirts of Bangalore) to Bidadi (place where Toyota factory is located). This will be around 10-12 km.
Various ramps from the expressway to many other roads.
Apparently, no lands are being released to build the ramps. Now the situation is that the roads are ready with no connection to them from the existing roads in Bangalore.

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by amit

"His Highness" Deve Gowda has decided that he will not release land for Bangalore's first private urban expressway that would have reduced travel time for ordinary citizens from a ponderous 90 minutes to 10 minutes and all this because the government has refused to allot land for entry and exit ramps on the expressway. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens, major IT companies and even auto major Toyota continue to wait for infrastrucuture to improve.

Mods: I remember there was a Gowda specific thread, but couldn't find it.

That's stale news.

The Supreme Court has recently turned down Karnataka's Govt.'s appeal against the High Court order giving go-ahead to the project.

So the project should take off soon.

[deepakhon]

Originally Posted by directinjection

That's stale news.

The Supreme Court has recently turned down Karnataka's Govt.'s appeal against the High Court order giving go-ahead to the project.

So the project should take off soon.

Unfortunately, this aint stale news buddy. All this is happening after the Supreme Court's verdict. Apparently Gowda's team has interpreted the verdict in their own terms and they are bullying NICE. Looks like NICE needs to go to the court again if Gowda continues to do this.

[w 12]

Between Kengeri and Bidadi , the exisiting road is quite good..

and how many people will be ready to pay the steep tolls charged by nice? ( one estimate was 200- 250 rs. for cars)

Understand this expressway of 110 kms will not reduce the distance per se..it starts at kengeri , some 20 kms away and ends 5 kms away from mysore. so around 135kms against exisitng 145 kms..

so need to wait and watch..

[Laxminarayan]

Originally Posted by w 12

and how many people will be ready to pay the steep tolls charged by nice? ( one estimate was 200- 250 rs. for cars)

so need to wait and watch..

Not sure where you picked up the price from??

The recent announced stretch connecting kanakapura road to Mysore road is 9 kms and it costs 9Rs (1 rs/km) for cars.. well 200-250 is quite imaginary for me..

[deepakhon]

Originally Posted by Laxminarayan

Not sure where you picked up the price from??

The recent announced stretch connecting kanakapura road to Mysore road is 9 kms and it costs 9Rs (1 rs/km) for cars.. well 200-250 is quite imaginary for me..

I had read about this Re 1/- per km somewhere. I have no idea about Rs. 200-250.

Actually, the whole idea about this project is based on the fact that building a freeway b'ween two cities alone will not make the project viable in the long run (case in point being the Mumbai-Pune expressway). Therefore the idea of 5 townships enroute. If NICE charges around 200-250 per trip on their expressway, it is bound to be a failure.

[sivadas]

Originally Posted by deepakhon

Unfortunately, this aint stale news buddy. All this is happening after the Supreme Court's verdict. Apparently Gowda's team has interpreted the verdict in their own terms and they are bullying NICE. Looks like NICE needs to go to the court again if Gowda continues to do this.

The worst part is that many builders have cheated people by selling Aptmts. and land after hiding the BMIC/NICE notification (this happened in 2003 it seems). And it is a known fact that some of these builders are close allies of Mr. Deve Gowda, which is the reason why he is trying to stop the whole process now. Many innocent poeple who have invested their life long savings are under extreme tension/pain now.
I really dont know what can we do to such @%!@# politicians..

[deepakhon]

Originally Posted by sivadas

The worst part is that many builders have cheated people by selling Aptmts. and land after hiding the BMIC/NICE notification (this happened in 2003 it seems). And it is a known fact that some of these builders are close allies of Mr. Deve Gowda, which is the reason why he is trying to stop the whole process now. Many innocent poeple who have invested their life long savings are under extreme tension/pain now.
I really dont know what can we do to such @%!@# politicians..

Yes. This person was once the PM of India! His lobby indeed is a terror in the area we live in Bangalore. The whole area is more or less his. (Hope his aides do not identify me and beat the hell out of me for saying this ). He is hell bent upon scuttling all the projects in and around Bangalore. I thought his son was doing a good job as CM, but now I figure out who the real CM is

Please look at this link for more info on this:
http://bangalorebuzz.blogspot.com/20...etermined.html

[w 12]

I was talking about the 110 KMs stretch..not the 9 kms stretch..

Yes the original estimate was 1 rs/ Km but now the calculations have gone haywire because of all the delays.. and their planned foray into real estate is a non starter as of now..and toll roads in general are not doing well in India..

read http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detai...sp?newsid=8749

And I think the toll for the noida freeway is much more than 1rupee / Km..

I wont mind paying even 200 as toll , but if there is an almost equally good alternate available, many people will not use this.

[w 12]

As we are discussing Tolls,

It would be interesting to know what other members think is the right toll , which they are ready to pay..to use this road..

1. 1 rupee / KM

2. 1.5 Rs / KM

3. 2 Rs/ KM

4. Will never pay and sneak in into tollway later through a side road

[amit]

sorry guys, I forgot the post the link earlier. I read this news on the website of hindustan times and now I can't find the link to post it here. But the news in the link posted by deepakhon is word to word from hindustan times report.

Let's not get into specifics of toll charges, incidents like these will scare of infrastructure investors and give India a bad name. All this is being done on the whims of one person. Tomorrow he may not like someone else and decide to block some other project. And to make matters worse, he cares two hoots for the Supreme Court and is actually getting away with it. Isnt what Gowda doing contempt of court? Shouldn't he be arrested for this?

[satish_appasani]

I thought Gowda is known for his dozing in office and meetings. Why do people wake him up?