Work on B.C. Road-Gundia four-lane project to begin in September.

Civil works related to widening and upgrading a stretch of National Highway 75 between B.C. Road and Addahole (near Gundia) will begin in September, according to a senior official of Larsen and Toubro that has bagged the contract of the ₹821 crore project.

The project involves the construction of a 65 km dual carriageway (four lanes) with concrete pavements. In addition building 14.5 km long service roads with concrete pavements, two flyovers, two major bridges, 14 minor bridges, nine underpasses and a toll plaza were part of the project.

At a meeting called by Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, here on Tuesday, Vadiraj B. Katti, Project Manager and Joint General Manager, L&T, which has bagged the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order of the project, said that 7,000 trees would have to be cut down for the project. Of these, 4,500 have already been cut. It required about seven hours of a power shut down to cut down 50 trees. In addition, traffic would have to be regulated.

Mr. Katti said that tree cutting slowed down in this summer as most of the power shutdown was not possible. It would speed up now in the rainy season. Trees on the stretch between Addahole and Uppinangady were being cut now.

G.N. Manjunath, Special Land Acquisition Officer and Competent Authority, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Project Office, Hassan, said that of the 270.65 hectares of land required for the project, the government has acquired 94% by providing compensation to land losers. The government has acquired and taken into possession 251.54 hectares by the end May. The remaining 15.02 hectares will be acquired by August-end. The land in 53 km stretch was now clear for taking up civil works, he added.

Mr. Manjunath said that the L&T would have to complete the work in 30 months effective from March 28, 2017, as the contract was effective from then. He said that the land remaining to be acquired was in Panemangalore, Kalladkka and Narikombu villages.

Of the ₹122 crore compensation to be paid for 65 km stretch, the government has now paid ₹115 crore.

Mr. Katti said that his company had a target of completing half a km of road every day.

THE HINDU