Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 13 (ANI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is also the Bengaluru Development Minister, on Thursday said that double-decker flyovers, tunnel roads, buffer roads, elevated corridors, and other projects are planned to ease traffic in Bengaluru.

Replying to a question in the Legislative Council by MLC Sudham Das on the steps taken to ease traffic, he said, 'I have taken up the responsibility of Bengaluru seriously. Bengaluru is not a planned city like New Delhi; only areas like Jayanagara, Indiranagara, and Malleshwara are planned layouts. PRR project would have reduced the traffic woes of the city to a large extent, but it was not executed.'

'The PRR would have cost Rs 3,000-4,000 crore if it was executed then, but today, it costs Rs 26,000. We are going to execute the PRR by taking a loan from Hudco. When KJ George was the Bengaluru Development Minister, he planned a steel bridge on Bellary Road, but there was severe opposition. We are paying a price today for not executing that project. We have now planned two tunnel roads - a 17 km stretch from East to West and a 23 km stretch from North to South. We will be calling for tenders for the first phase soon,' he explained.

Shivakumar said that the state government is planning to build double decker flyovers wherever the new metro lines are coming up. The BBMP and BMRCL will bear the cost equally, he said.

'It costs Rs 120 crore to build one kilometre of double-decker flyover. We have given a grant of Rs 9,000 crore for this project. We are also planning to build 300 km of 50-foot wide buffer roads along the stormwater drains to ease traffic as well. Rs 3,000 crore has been earmarked for this. We are also planning to build roads by issuing TDRs. A notification has been issued for a 7.8-km road from Hebbal to Hennur. A total of 320 km of new roads are being built in Bengaluru,' he said.

'We have allocated Rs 9,000 crore for white topping of 1,682 km of roads. We have taken a loan of Rs 2,000 crore from the World Bank to build 850-km long stormwater drains. Of the 850 km, 480 km stretch is complete,' he added. (ANI)