Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) administrator Gaurav Gupta on Wednesday reviewed ongoing work at three different sites on the signal-free corridor on Old Airport Road, which connects Vellara Junction and Hope Farm Junction on the road leading to tech-hub Whitefield, and said the project is all set to be completed this September. The much-delayed 17.5km signal-free corridor gets a new deadline.

 Though his assurance is a respite for motorists who are stuck on this stretch daily, not many are enthused as officials had set similar deadlines earlier and failed to meet them.

The project, mooted in 2009, got a push in 2013-14 when it was announced in the budget along with other signal-free corridor projects. However, action on the ground began only in 2018 when underpass-related work started at three junctions: Wind Tunnel Road, Suranjandas Road, and Kundalahalli. But the project got mired in land-acquisition problems from 2018 as the civic agency failed to clear the decks on time. Other factors that slowed work: Shifting of pipelines and other utilities, fund allocation, and alternative traffic arrangements.

“Governments have changed and BBMP officials got replaced, but what has remain unchanged is the tardy pace in execution of work and setting new deadlines. A project to ease traffic flow on the tech corridor not being completed even after a decade is an embarrassment for the city,” say civic activists. The latest reason that was given for failure to expedite work is a shortage of labour after the pandemic.

However, BBMP officials maintain the project will be completed at the earliest. Gupta, who also heads the industries department, instructed officials to divert traffic to the other side of the road to facilitate the construction of a retaining wall and the installation of pre-cast blocks.

As for Kundalahalli junction that had run into land-acquisition problems, Gupta said permission has been taken to acquire 27 properties and the process will be over soon. “The underpass should be ready by June,” he added.

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