The tender process for the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) has been scrapped by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), which has decided to issue a fresh one.
The move comes in the backdrop of investors, who took part in the tender process, asking the authority to come out with more clarity on the land acquisition cost.
BDA officials, citing a Supreme Court order, have been maintaining that the BDA Act applies for the land acquisition and not the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, as demanded by the farmers.
Last year, the BDA estimated that if the compensation package was fixed as per 2013 Act, the acquisition cost would require more than ₹14,000 crore.
The 74-km project requires 2,560 acres of land and will connect Tumakuru Road with Hosur Road. More than 15 years ago, the BDA notified 1,810 acres of land.
An official of the BDA said, “During the pre-bidding meeting, the investors had raised queries concerning land acquisition. They wanted to know how much land acquisition would cost and who would bear the cost. Earlier, two compensation packages were proposed: one is compensation for the land cost that prevailed when the notification was issued with the 12% interest per year, and another one is fixing cost as per the recent guidance value. If we fix the compensation based on the land cost that was there when notification was issued, it would come around ₹3,000 crore. Farmers will not agree to this as it is too low. Fixing the compensation as per the existing guidance value is likely to cost over ₹4,500 crore”.
The official said that the BDA has already written to the State government seeking guidance on fixing compensation. “The next tender will be floated after getting clearance from a committee headed by the Chief Secretary,” said the official.
The official added that for the previous tender, a total of eight companies had shown interest, which included two foreign companies and six Indian companies, such as Nagarjuna, IRB, Adani, L&T and others.
He added that companies have also sought more time to study the project.
The BDA is planning to construct eight-lane roads and integrate them with the existing NICE Road at Tumakuru Road and Hosur Road. The project will be taken up under PPP model along the lines of design, build, finance, operate, transfer (DBFOT) model.
