16 bids for satellite ring road project

Nischith N. | NT

While the proposed Peripheral Ring Road project languishes on paper, the Bengaluru Satellite town Ring Road has made some headway.

Around 16 firms have submitted bids to construct 20.9 km Phase 3 Package 2 of the 280.8 km Bangalore Satellite Town Ring Road (NH-948A), after the National Highways Authority of India opened technical bids.

This six-lane partially access-controlled highway will have an alignment connecting 12 towns – Dobbspet (Tumakuru Road), Doddaballapur (Hindupur Road), Devanahalli (Hyderabad Road), Hosakote (Kolar Road), Hosur (Chennai Road), Anekal (Thali Road), Kanakapura (Kollegal Road), Ramanagara (Mysuru Road), Magadi (Kunigal Road) and Dobbspet.

It is being built in three parallel phases and involves construction of NH-948A and realignment of existing NH-648 (old NH-207).

The work was started in 2018 from Dabaspet-Doddaballapur stretch under the Bharatmala Pariyojana (Project). According to the NHAI this package’s construction is estimated to cost Rs 530.89 crore, and has to be completed in two years. The contractors will have to maintain the road for five years.

It is claimed that the bids have now been sent for technical bid evaluation which can take a couple months to complete. “This is a bypass project from Tumakuru road to Hyderabad road via Dobbspet - DoddaballapurDevanahalli. However, the project had to be stalled as the concessionaire didn’t speed up the work. Later it was re-awarded. So, planned to connect this road across the city and convert it into a satellite ring road under the Bharatmala scheme. Now many have participated in the tender and in a few days the financial bids of the technically qualified bidders will be opened to reveal who are the lowest bidder and most likely contractor,” a senior NHAI official told News Trail.

First approved in 2005, the project stalled due to lack of funding. But it is now picking up pace with shared funding between the central and the state governments.

The total length of this ring road will be about 280.8 km (as against 116 km identified for PRR and 60 km of the existing ORR) in Karnataka, and 45 km in Tamil Nadu.