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Rs 250 cr. for Karnataka rural roads
By A Business Correspondent
The Karnataka government plans to improve the road network in the state by upgrading road infrastructure. The state will receive Rs 250 crore for development of rural roads under Nabard's Rs 5,000 crore road plan. The state PWD will be allocated Rs 200 crore and the rest will go to the Rural Development department. Nabard is issuing the loan on a reduced interest rate of 8.5 per cent as against the normal 10.5 per cent.
The government will also take up road development works in 18 districts with World Bank aid. The Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project will see the upgradation of 2,300 km road length at an outlay of Rs 2,030 crore. The final appraisal report was recently submitted to the World Bank.
The allocation for four laning of the existing traffic intensive road stretch between Bangalore and Mysore has been doubled to Rs 300 crore from the previous Rs 156 crore.
Work on the Bangalore-Maddur stretch will be completed within 15 months as part of phase I. Hudco has promised to release funds for this phase which would cost Rs 97 crore. Land acquisition is on at the moment.
Meanwhile, Nandi Infrastructure, which had been awarded the contract for construction of a parallel road, may lose the contract if it continues to insist on developing townships along the corridor. The Central government, while approving the highway, has not cleared the proposal for township development.
In addition, NHAI is developing a 625-km NH stretch in Karnataka. Work on converting the 29-km Denanhalli-Bangalore road to six lane has commenced. The 13-km Tumkur bypass will also be undertaken by the authority.
(16/6/02)
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