Kundapur-Karwar NH66 stretch to be widened

Karwar - 12 Jan 2012: New Year appears to have brought new hopes to the people of coastal Karnataka with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) initiating steps to widen a 189-km stretch of the national highway between Kundapura and Karwar (up to Goa border).

This NH 66 stretch is a part of the 296-km highway from Goa border (near Karwar) to Kerala border (near Talapady) in the State.

The stretch between Kundapur and Talapady, via Mangalore, on the same highway is now being widened by the NHAI.

With the new project on the anvil, the highway passing through Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada districts via Karwar, Ankola, Kumta, Honnavar, Bhatkal, Kundapur, Udupi, Surathkal, Mangalore, Thokkottu, and Talapady is all set to get a facelift.

Sources in the NHAI toldThe Hinduthat it had called for Request for Qualification (RFQ) from companies interested in taking up the Kundapura-Goa stretch.

So far, 39 companies had responded.

The NHAI had proposed to widen the stretch under build-operate-and-transfer (BoT) basis under Phase IV of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,687 crore.

A main feature under the project was an elevated highway of 350-m length and 12 m width which would come up at Maravanthe, a tourist spot, where the existing highway passes through a narrow stretch between the sea and the river.

The elevated highway would be built across the river while the surface level of the existing highway would be raised by about a metre and strengthened.

Sea erosion

Sources said that only one-way traffic would be allowed on the elevated highway. Maravanthe hit the headlines during monsoons for apprehensions of people over the safety of the highway due to sea erosion.

The Government had dumped huge rocks on the sea shore there to prevent erosion and damage to the highway.

Quoting the final feasibility report on Kundapura-Goa border project prepared by a private company for the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the sources said that 14 major bridges, 41 minor bridges, six road-over-bridges (RoBs), and three road-under-bridges (RuBs) would be built.

Four tunnels and an equal number of flyovers would be built. There would be 53 bus bays and four truck bays.

The Government would have to acquire 260 hectares of private land in 66 villages and 122 hectares of forestland for completing the project, the sources said.

source: The Hindu