Karnataka: Government To Rebrand Peripheral Ring Road As Bengaluru Business Corridor

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar announced on 17 January that the 74-km Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) planned by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) would be rebranded as the Bengaluru Business Corridor (BBC).

Shivakumar stated, "it has been decided to rename the proposed Peripheral Ring Road as Bengaluru Business Corridor (BBC). We will be inviting a global tender for the Bengaluru Business Corridor within a week. Those who are losing land for the corridor will be compensated as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court."

The 74-km Bengaluru Business Corridor is intended to be an eight-lane access-controlled expressway connecting Tumakuru Road and Hosur Road via various routes, including Hesaraghatta Road, Doddaballapur Road, Ballari Road, Hennur Road, Old Madras Road, Hoskote Road and Sarjapur Road.

He emphasised that the government is committed to not de-notifying any land in any of the projects, including the Bengaluru Business Corridor, despite facing pressure.

Regarding compensation for farmers affected by the Bengaluru Business Corridor, Shivakumar clarified, "we have taken farmers into confidence. We called them for a discussion, and we will further discuss the issue in the cabinet meeting."

The PRR project, initially proposed in 2007 to alleviate traffic congestion in the city's outskirts, is currently under the implementation of the BDA through a public-private partnership model on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis. Despite being in progress, the project has encountered limited advancement.

Although the PRR project has a deadline of December 2027, the initial cost has significantly escalated from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 21,091 crore. Despite two tender attempts in 2022, no bidders participated, adding a layer of complexity to the project's progress, reports Deccan Herald.

Significance Of The Project

The project is very significant to Bengaluru city because it is expected to address serious traffic challenges.

According to local authorities and the state government, Bengaluru needs the PRR, given the massive geographical expansion of the city to the current spread of 2,196 sq/km and explosive growth of vehicular ownership (2019 estimate — over 80 lakh).

Bengaluru has been attempting to complete several large ring road projects to improve its city-region connectivity and alleviate traffic congestion.