Pics by Dayananda Kukkaje

Mangalore, Feb 29: The 500-metre stretch from Ambedkar Circle (Jyothi Circle) towards Collector’s Gate, taken up by the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) under the Rs 16.3-crore four-lane road project from Mahaveer Circle to Hampankatta, will be opened for traffic on Friday.

Mayor Ganesh Hosabettu will inaugurate the stretch on Friday at 10.15 am. Though the inauguration was scheduled at 10.30 am initially, it was advanced due to inauspicious ‘rahu kaala’.

Syed Elyas Pasha, executive engineer, KUIDFC, said that barring very minor works like inter-locking in some pockets, the rest of the works were complete, including lighting on the median, asphalting the adjoining roads, which end on to the concrete stretch.

The next target of KUIDFC is the 700-metre stretch from Collector’s Gate to Bendorewell. Though the entire stretch had to be concretized in the original plan, KUIDFC would only take up 250 metres of the road, starting from Collector’s Gate up to Mangalore Nursing Home in the first phase, due to paucity of time.

Pasha said that as Jyothi Circle-Collector’s Gate work was delayed by nearly two months due to objections; they were constrained to take up less than half of the next stretch, due to the impending monsoon. The rest would be taken up after the monsoon till Lower Bendorewell Circle, he added.

Though KUIDFC officials wanted to take up this work from Friday itself, it’s likely to be delayed by a day or two, as the district administration has not notified the stretch for closure.

Deputy commissioner Maheshwar Rao said the notification would be issued on Friday evening, so that the KUIDFC can start work from Saturday.