The Hindu Business Line : Expressway project work blocked at Mysore end

The groundbreaking at the Mysore end for the Bangalore-Mysore expressway project did not take place on Friday as planned due to opposition from local authorities, according to a spokesman for the project's SPV.

The Rs 2,250-crore Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project co-promoted by the Kalyani Group and SAB International has run into rough weather with the Mysore Urban Development Authority seeking compensation for Rs 85 lakh for the land; the SPV, Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), said it has deposited Rs 110 crore with the State land acquiring agency, Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB).

NICE on June 16 threw open 9 km of a link road at Bangalore and said it would begin work on the Mysore side as directed by the State. However, it could not take up the groundbreaking because of prohibitory order imposed by Mysore authorities at the venue, the spokesman said.

The BMIC project, conceived in mid-1990s, has been mired in controversies, mainly about irregularities and prime land in Bangalore being made out to it in `excess' of requirement.