The Mangaluru chapter of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged the Karnataka government to study the viability of implementing six-lane road connectivity project between Bengaluru and Mangaluru.

In a memorandum to Jagadish Shettar, Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Scale Industries, the CII said that an elaborate plan for a six-lane road connectivity project (tunnel project) by Japan International Cooperation Agency is already with the State government.

K Prakash Rao, Chairman of the Mangaluru chapter of CII, said there is a need to study the viability of implementing the tunnel project.

Terming New Mangalore Port as one of the best all-weather ports in the country, he said it has every facility required to help exporters of the region to ship out their goods. However, the port is handling bulk cargo to a large extent. The shipments of containerized general cargo is very low. He said the New Mangalore Port is underutilised by the exporters in Karnataka mainly due to the problems in road and rail connectivity from manufacturing hubs to the port.

Rao said most of the cargoes are moving from Bengaluru Inland Container Depot to Chennai or through Nava Sheva, Mumbai, resulting in additional costs to the exporters and making them uncompetitive. The movement of cargo is hampered due to difficulty in negotiating the gradient by the trains and also poor road connectivity in the Shiradi ghat near Hassan region on Bengaluru-Mangaluru highway.

He said the implementation of the six-lane road connectivity project (tunnel project) will augur well in building competitiveness for the exporters of Karnataka region. This will also help fully utilise the potential of NMPT.

He requested the government to convene a meeting of all the stakeholders to discuss the issue and take it further.

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