The Hindu

MANGALORE, Jan 12: Mangalore City Corporation has proposed to concrete 20 roads in the city, in addition to the roads which are being concreted now, according to Mayor Ganesh Hosabettu.

K. Naveenchandra, chairman, standing committee for town planning and improvement, has said that the corporation had plans to widen and improve a short stretch from Naguri on NH 48 to Mangalore Junction Railway Station and construct a bus-stand near the station there. With that, the distance between Naguri and the railway station would be reduced to 1.5 km. At present, people have to travel 2.5 km to reach the station via Padil.

Plans

The Mayor said that a few of the roads proposed for concreting were; Bunts Hostel Circle-Kadri Road; Kadri-Lower Bendoorwell Road; KSRTC Junction (Bejai)-Kuntikana Road; Surathkal-Kana-Kulai Road; Hosabettu-Baikampady Road; Surathkal Shamsuddin Circle-Railway Level-Crossing Road: Phalnir Road; Manki Stand-Pandeshwar Road; Central Railway Station-Nandigudda Road; Kankanady-Morgan’s Gate Road; Ballalbagh-Durga Mahal Road; Kadri Kambala Road; Bejai Chruch-Basaveshwara Circle Road; PVS Circle-Navbharath Cirlce-Prabhath Cinema Road; Shakthinagar Main Road and Padil-Bajal Road.

With the concreting of the 20 roads, all major roads in the city would become concreted ones. They would be concreted by using the Rs. 100-crore special grants for the MCC announced in the 2008-09 State Budget and grants from the State Finance Commission, Mr. Hosabettu said.

The estimated cost for concreting the 20 roads was Rs. 87 crore and they would be divided into 24 projects. Bids had been invited for 15 projects. Of the remaining nine, the State Government had given permission to entrust the concreting of the stretch between Mary Hill Junction and Malavoor bridge on the Airport Road to Karnataka Land Army Corporation Ltd (KLACL). The tender process for concreting of other roads were under progress and the Government’s administrative approval for some of them were awaited, he said. For instance, the Government was yet to permit the civic body to invite bids for concreting Falnir Road and KSRTC Junction-Kuntikana Road, he added.

Short-term tender

Naveenchandra said that the corporation opened the technical bids of the 15 projects on Tuesday last. It was found that a single contractor had submitted bids for eight projects. “Hence it was decided to invite short-term bids. This process will be completed in 20 days,” Hosabettu said.

If the corporation were to allot eight projects to one contractor, the completion of the works was likely to be delayed. If these works were allotted to different contractors, they could be completed early, he said.

Road to railway station

Naveenchandra said that widening of the short road to Mangalore Junction Railway Station involved acquisition of private lands. The civic body had kept aside funds for that purpose as well as to construct a bus-stand near the junction railway station. Plans were afoot to re-construct the stormwater drains in some low-lying areas, he said.