MANGALORE: The four-laning work of the 35 km-stretch between Mukka and B.C. Road of national highways 17 and 48 will not be completed before December 15, 2007. This information has been obtained from the project director's office by the National Highway User's Forum through RTI.

The RTI application, made jointly by the forum convener Harish Pejavar and B. Srinivas Kakkilaya, makes enquiry into various aspects of the highway stretches between Mukka and B.C. Road.

The information given by project director P.N. Gawasane states that the project was started on June 16, 2005 and its date of completion was December 15, 2007.

The application had also enquired about the condition of the highways taken up for the project. Replying to the question, New Mangalore Port Road Company Limited has said that due to heavy monsoon and overloaded vehicles some stretches under the New Mangalore Port Road Connectivity Project had been damaged.The repair and maintenance of these stretches was being done by the contractor IRCON International Limited, and inspections of these stretches was being done regularly, it said.

The document states that the stretch was taken over by New Mangalore Port Road Company from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). State National Highways had handed over the stretch to the NHAI in 2004. The document also states that the NHAI had created a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the company's name.

S. Prasad, member of the forum told The Hindu that the project had been envisaged at a cost of Rs. 113.17 crore. A number of residential layouts had come up along NH-17, he said. These layouts are connected to the highway through lanes and roads, and the residents board buses on the highway. There were 26 bus stops on the highway between Kottara Chowki and Suratkal, a distance of 10 km, he said. There was no alternative for the residents other than using the highway, he added.

Places such as Kadri Park, Tanniru Bavi beach, Panambur beach and Suratkal beach were connected through NH-17, and there was no alternative route for the public to get thereto these places, he said. Mr. Prasad said that all major four-laning projects should have a separate two-way carriageway, at least 60-foot wide, to help smooth flow of traffic by the side of the project site. He said the company had ignored this aspect while working on the project.

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