Written By tsubba - 24 January, 2008

Infrastructure Bangalore Mangalore

Minister, Reality Part Ways On Shiradi Ghat
Source: Deccan Herald (Green signal for expressway), The Hindu (Will the Shiradi Ghat stretch be ready by June?)

The Hindu

Union Minister of State for Surface Transport K H Muniyappa assured that the vexed Shiradi Ghat road improvement project will be completed by May, before the onset of monsoon. The work is in full swing and the project contractor has been directed to lay concrete stretches in places prone to damage, he added.

However, Raviprasad Kamila of the hindu, reports tht it is unlikely the road will be finished by June, the pace of repairs on this stretch of the highway, taken up by the Mangalore Division of the National Highways, does not seem to match the expectation.

The stretch of the highway passing through the ghat was closed for heavy traffic three months ago to take up repairs. The authorities concerned had promised that it would be reopened before the onset of monsoon.

Curves
The main problem appears to be completion of the 13 critical curves between Heggadde and Adda Hole Bridge. The curves are to get a facelift with concrete stretch, at a cost of Rs. 8.42 crore.

Bhandarkar Constructions of Ujire, one of the contractors, is on the verge of completing the work on only one side (vertical split) of the eight curves. For this, the company has taken more than three-and-half months. Besides completing the work on the other side of the eight curves, the contractor will have to take up and complete both the halves of the remaining five curves.

The completed work accounts for only 30 per cent of the contract.

An engineer supervising the work said that concrete was being laid in three layers — 20 cm granular sub-base, 15 cm dry lean concrete and the topmost 30 cm plain cement concrete.

The officials attribute the delay to use transit mixer (the one boarded on a vehicle).

As far as road work is concerned, two contractors are working on different patches of the 37-km ghat stretch simultaneously between Durgamba Rice Mill near Sakaleshpur and Adda Hole Bridge near Gundya in Dakshina Kannada district. One of them started the work in October while the other started a month ago. A major part of the asphalting work (22 km of the 37-km stretch) has been given to Durga Constructions of Tamil Nadu. An official said that the company had enough manpower and equipment, and expects that it would complete the work by March.

However, as one travels along the stretch, all he or she can see is that only pothole-filling work has been taken up and not more than 20 people are working.

The contractor is expected to lay two fresh layers, known as dense bituminous macadam (DBM) layer and bituminous concrete layer, after filling the potholes.

S. Gopal, Executive Engineer of the division, told The Hindu that the DBM layer would have thickness of 50 mm. On top of that 40-mm thick bituminous concrete layer would be laid.

Mr. Gopal said that two more batches of workers were expected to arrive shortly. “If you want to see the progress of work visit after a fortnight,” he said. Durga Constructions is asphalting the stretch between Heggadde and Adda Hole at a cost of Rs. 24 crore.

The other contracting company, Ramesh Kothari Constructions, which is asphalting the 11-km stretch, has completed filling up potholes and is laying the first of the two layers.

During a visit to the stretch between Durgamba Rice Mill and near Heggadde (towards Mangalore) on Monday, it was found that work on about 3 km of the stretch up to Donigal was completed. The contractor has promised to complete the work by the end of February. This contract was awarded a cost of Rs. 5.37 crore.

Works in the ghat section are being done only during day time.

Shiradi Ghat Road

Pratap Hegde - 28 January, 2008 - 07:08

This reporter is very right. I had the misfortune of driving down this ghat section few days back ( They allow cars to go in this road while heavy vehicles are banned). The resource mobilisation is certainly not adequate. The contractor seem to be lacking abilities to mobilize machines, materials and men. Its appalling to see the casual way such an important infrastructure work ( the only reasonable link between the port city of Mangalore and Bangalore ) is taken up ! It looks impossible to finish the work and open the road before the onset of monsoon unless some drastic change in approach to the project management is carried out. People should understand that the continued delays in opening this road is a huge drain on our state's economy. Pratap Hegde

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shiradi ghat

tsubba - 23 April, 2008 - 14:10

http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/23/stories/2008042355261000.htm Shiradi Ghat likely to be opened for heavy traffic soon Raviprasad Kamila SHIRADI GHAT (DAKSHINA KANNADA): Commuters between Mangalore and Bangalore can hope to have a comfortable journey in the Shiradi Ghat area before the new government comes to power. The ghat section on National Highway 48 is closed for heavy traffic since October 2007. Mangalore Division of the National Highways has completed 70 per cent of the repair works required in this stretch. “If it does not rain now, the division will complete all works by the third week of May,” S. Gopal, executive engineer of the division, told The Hindu. “All pending bills of the three contractors have been cleared,” he said and added that vehicular traffic will be allowed on both the sides of the stretch soon after the repairs. During a visit to the ghat on Monday, C.L. Muniraju, junior engineer, Sakleshpur sub-division of National Highways, said that the division had taken up the repair of the 37-km stretch of the ghat road. Of that, a 33-km length of road needed fresh asphalting. Works in the remaining portion involved concreting of 13 critical curves and asphalting the approaches to those concrete curves. Representatives of Durga Constructions executing a major portion of asphalt work have planned to complete a one-km stretch of road in one-and-half days, Mr. Muniraju said. He said that this contract agency is filling potholes in the remaining stretch. Asphalting will be done soon after. According to him, of the 13 critical curves required concreting, works on eight curves have been completed. They are 12 metres wide. Works on four curves have been completed on one side. Concreting of the remaining curve is under progress on one side. Gokuldas Bhandarkar, contractor executing this work, said that these five curves will be completed before May. He said that the authorities should not allow heavy vehicles on the ghat till concreting of five curves is completed. If trucks, lorries and buses are allowed, it will affect the concrete work. Sadashiva Prabhu, a taxi driver plying on the ghat section, said that when the ghat was in bad condition before October 2007 it required six hours to cover 136 km distance from Mangalore to Sakleshpur. Now it took four hours to complete the distance. When all works are completed, it will be a two-and-half-hour journey between the port city and the coffee town, he said. Mr. Prabhu said that the condition of the ghat road deteriorated four years ago after overloaded trucks carrying iron ore to New Mangalore Port started plying in this ghat. When the ghat was in good condition, taxi drivers from Mangalore took only two-and-half hours to reach Sakleshpur. He was of the view that overloaded trucks will damage the new asphalted stretch again. “The government should not allow overloaded trucks in this ghat section,” he said.

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The Roads Most Travelled - Gujarat Shows The Way

City.Zen - 7 May, 2008 - 11:41

What led to the Sakleshpur highway's closure in October 2007? The PWD minister was the political heavyweight Revanna who hailed from the same district. The Surface Transport minister at the Center is Mr. K.H. Muniyappa who also happens to be from Karnataka itself. Obviously, there was an utter lack of political will. Here is some news about what political will can achieve. News from Amdavad (Ahmedabad). "Airlines are learning to their dismay that Gujarat's roads are so good that people prefer driving to flying.... Most travellers prefer driving for four hours on the well-maintained and broad roads between Rajkot and Ahmedabad (220 KMs) and this has discouraged even low-cost airlines from flying in this lucrative and busy sector. Ahmedabad, Gujarat's commercial capital, ( Karnataka too should take the cue and have its political capital away from Bangalore), has wide roads and well-managed traffic. And the entire city is lined with malls, multiplexes, showrooms, high-rises, and the latest cars." (excerpt from Outlook Business) So, a strong political will will certainly show the way forward. If Gujarat can do it, why not Bangalore and Karnataka?

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Shiradi Ghat damaged again

mcadambi - 10 July, 2008 - 08:49

Read in "The Hindu" a day or two back that potholes have started emerging again in the Shiradi Ghat road because of overloaded Iron Ore lorries. The iron ore lorries which are supposed to carry 16 tonnes as an official limit now carry 45 tonnes. This iron ore and manganese ore come from Bellary thanks to the eminence grise of the Reddy brothers.

It is high time the Central Government bans the export of iron and manganese. 

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More money down the Shiradi Ghat drain

Transmogrifier - 11 February, 2009 - 21:49

More repair of the Shiradi Ghat road ahead (at our cost)! Read more here: http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/11/stories/2009021153240400.htm

What's hard to be believe is the ccountability standards (or rather the lack of them) here? I wonder how many crores it has cost the taxpayer to "fix" the Shiradi Ghat road. Do contracts/tenders like these have any language on the expected life of the road and liability of the the contractor if it fails to meet expectations? If they do, why are we paying for it...if they don't there has to be a way for it to be done. NHAI has made contractors liable for road works in Bangalore, GoK can easily do the same if the will exists.

TM

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