Bengaluru Steel Flyover Contract Officially Handed to Larsen & Toubro

Bengaluru: The contract to construct a controversial steel flyover in Bengaluru has been awarded to construction major Larsen & Toubro. The project, which aims to connect the heart of the city to the airport, has been vociferously opposed by environmental activists, citizens groups and opposition leaders.

Protests have intensified in the last two weeks against the proposed flyover, which has been criticised for its high cost.

The flyover is expected to be built in the next two years, connecting the Basaveshwara Circle near the Vidhana Souda, to the Hebbal flyover in the fringes of the city, which would then connect to the already-existing airport expressway. Civil works on the project may begin as early as mid-November.

Among those who have spoken out against the project are former Supreme Court judge Justice Santosh Hegde, scientist UR Rao, historian Ramachandra Guha, MP Rajeev Chandrashekar and theatre personality Arundhati Nag.

Covering a little less than 7km, the project costs Rs 267 crore per kilometre. It will also cut across 812 trees en route.

Two Sundays ago, a human chain along the stretch drew over 2,000 activists from residents’ associations and civic groups.

But the government has so far remained stubborn in its resolve to go ahead with the project, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah saying the project has been in the pipeline since the last BJP government and he was “merely implementing it”. Besides, public opinions were sought, and over 73% of the (299) respondents were in favour of the project, he said.

This ‘favourable’ response itself has drawn a lot of criticism, with many questioning how 299 people could be representative of the voice of lakhs of Bangaloreans. But with every argument raised against the project, the government has gone one step ahead in the processing of government approvals to execute it.

The government has also said it would extend the reach of the flyover to further clear traffic bottlenecks, and the contract has now been given though a detailed project report (DPR) for the alignment of the project has not been prepared yet.

As activists have pointed out time and again, only a DPR would make the project transparent, but bidders have been finalised and contracts handed over even before the exact alignment of the project is known.