MYSORE: Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) Ltd. will start work on the section of the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project from Mysore on Friday.

A spokesperson for NICE told The Hindu that excavation and levelling of the ground for a world-class expressway would begin on 15 acres of land "allotted" for the project at Devanur extension on the outskirts of Mysore.

"We will start work with 15 acres of land, and continue it as and when land is made available to us," the spokesperson said.

The work will begin with a "bhoomi puja" at 9 a.m. on Friday. Managing Director of NICE Ashok Kheny will be present.

The company was moving in excavators, tippers and labourers to execute the project. The spokesperson said a road would be built in three months with the land made available to NICE, and reiterated the company's commitment to completing the 111-km-long expressway between Bangalore and Mysore by December 2007 if land was made available.

Deputy Commissioner of Mysore Selva Kumar denied any knowledge of the plan to commence work on the BMIC project from Mysore. Although MUDA (Mysore Urban Development Authority) had reserved 14 acres of land for the project on the outskirts of the city, it was yet to be handed over to Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB), which was acquiring land for the BMIC project, he said. Mr. Selva Kumar, who is MUDA Chairman, told The Hindu that MUDA would hand over land to the KIADB only when the latter paid the acquisition cost, which was Rs. 84 lakh. He wondered how the KIADB could hand over land to NICE without taking possession of it from MUDA by paying the acquisition cost.

The NICE spokesperson contended that the company had made payment to the KIADB. "A Government Order has already been issued giving the company permission to start work on the expressway project from Bangalore and Mysore." As part of the BMIC expressway, NICE planned a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, U.S., across the Cauvery.

Representatives of industry have welcomed the launch of the project here. "The industry in Mysore will greatly benefit from a world-class road between Mysore and Bangalore," general secretary of the Hebbal Industrialists' Association Suresh Kumar Jain said.

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