Work on parts of Belagavi bypass road to be completed this month

Work on the Halaga-Macche bypass, a four-kilometre road that connects two National Highways surrounding Belagavi, will be completed by the end of this month, BJP MP Jagadish Shettar said in Belagavi on Saturday.

He told reporters after a meeting with senior officials of the district administration, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Railways and Airport and other agencies, that the whole 13.33 km bypass road project is expected to be ready by the end of the year.

The Halaga-Macche road connects the Suvarna Soudha on the Pune-Bengaluru National Highway with VTU on the Belagavi-Goa National Highway.

This is expected to reduce congestion in Belagavi city, by diverting a large number of heavy vehicles moving from Goa to Hubballi, away from the city’s arterial roads. Works on the service road are likely to be completed by April, officials told the MP.

Officials said that the six-lane Belagavi-Sankeshwar highway is in the final stages of completion. Most of the land acquisition for the 43.8 km Phase 1 stretch of the Belagavi-Hungund-Raichur highway has already been completed. Work on the Belagavi-Kittur-Dharwad railway line is on track. The first phase of land acquisition of about 1,200 acres has been completed.

The State government has sanctioned ₹50 crore towards compensating land-losing farmers. Once the process is completed, tenders for the railway line construction can be invited, Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Roshan said.

Railway officials also said that permission has been sought from the Police Commissioner to change the traffic route near LC No 381 (Third Gate) at Tilakwadi to facilitate construction of the second lane of the railway overbridge.

Mr. Shettar said that the work at Belagavi Airport has been slow as the Indian Air Force is yet to hand over the requisite land. He said that he will take up the issue with the authorities concerned at the Centre.

Special Land Acquisition Officer Rajashree Jainapur, NHAI Project Director Bhuvanesh Kumar and Airport Director S. Thiagarajan and other officers were present.