No bidders for Peripheral Ring Road during second tender too

No investors showed any interest to bid for building the 74-km road project and BDA is likely to float the tenders for a third time

No companies have shown interest in the tender process for building the 74-km Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).

It is said that a “lack of clarity” and the risk involved, in fixing compensation for acquisition of private land for the project, forced the investors to backtrack.

As per the policy decision, the private investor has to bear the cost of land acquisition along with the project cost. The project requires 2,560 acres of land.

In April, the BDA floated the tender for the first time. It had to be scrapped after investors sought more time to study the project and raised concerns over the cost involved in the land acquisition. The tender was floated for the second time in June.

The project connecting Tumakuru Road with Hosur Road is over 15 years old. Consecutive governments failed to execute the project for various reasons such as land cost, legal hurdles, changes in the alignment, strong resistance of the farmers, and a lack of political will. 

At present, deciding compensation for the land acquisition is a key factor . Citing a Supreme Court order, the BDA has been maintaining the the BDA Act will be applicable for acquisition of the private land, whereas the farmers are up in arms and demanding compensation under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, (Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Act, 2013.

Farmers have held many protests in the past demanding “fair compensation’‘.