Stop wasting taxpayers' money in 'unscientific' Tunnel Road project: Tejasvi tells Siddaramaiah

BJP leader and Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya on Monday asked the state government why it is wasting the taxpayers' money with regard to the Tunnel Road project.

Calling it "unscientific", he alleged that the project is bad in design and will not achieve the objective of resolving Bengaluru's traffic crisis.

A couple of days ago, it was reported in the media that the Karnataka government had invited bids for the preparation of a Detailed Project Report for the proposed second Tunnel Road project between KR Puram and Nayandahalli, a 28-km stretch.

Surya, in a post on 'X', in which he had tagged Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, pointed out the criticism the government had already received for the "shoddy DPR and feasibility report" of the Hebbal-Silk Board stretch of the Tunnel Road.

According to him, the first DPR had blown out costs, had fundamental errors in data, contextual inaccuracies and even blatant copy-pasting.

"This is an exercise which is yet another waste of the taxpayers' money. The Tunnel Road Project is bad in design, poorly thought out and will not achieve the objective of resolving Bengaluru's traffic crisis," the BJP leader said in the post.

Surya said the DPR had even disregarded Bengaluru's Master Plan 2031, which places more importance on public transportation, like expanding the BMTC fleet to 15,000 buses.

"It also failed to align the Tunnel Road with critical projects like Metro Phases 2B and 3A. The proposed 61-month construction timeline does not consider the city's ongoing and planned infrastructure projects, risking significant disruptions in an already cramped city due to the dug roads," he said.

According to him, the BBMP's Rs 15,000 crore estimate for 1 corridor of the Tunnel Road would primarily serve only 25 per cent of vehicles - four-wheelers that can pay tolls.

"We've seen how the inclusion of shopping malls in intermodal hubs in the project plan suggested that real estate development interests, rather than traffic management needs, were driving key design decisions," he added.

He alleged that the state government was rushing through the project.

"An analysis by Prof Ashish Verma of the IISc (Indian Institute of Science) has shown that while Metro development reduces traffic congestion, tunnel roads risk increasing vehicle movement and does not mitigate congestion in the long run," said the Lok Sabha member.

Surya suggested that the government should stop this "unscientific" pursuit of Tunnel Road for Bengaluru. "...Instead, prioritise initiatives that genuinely serve Bengaluru's residents," he said.