Kota Srinivas Poojary, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP, on Friday, expressed the confidence that the Forest Department will facilitate the widening of the 29 km Mala Ghat stretch of Mangaluru-Solapur National Highway 169 between Mala Gate in Karkala taluk, Udupi district, and Tanikodu Forest Check Post in Sringeri taluk, Chikkamagaluru district.

The MP spoke while inspecting the stretch that passes through the Kudremukh National Park via S.K. Border, along with officials from the Forest Department and the National Highways Division of the Public Works Department. The highway has been widened to two lanes with paved shoulders between Shivamogga and Tanikodu Check Post via Tirthahalli, and was in the process of being widened to four lanes between Karkala and Mala Gate.

Mr. Poojary said the proposal to widen the highway between Mala and Tanikodu (29 km) to two lanes with paved shoulders at an estimated cost of ₹550 crore was before the Union Road Transport Ministry.

Single lane

At present, the stretch remains a single lane on the undulating terrain between S.K. Border and Tanikodu, with little space for movement when two heavy vehicles face each other. The stretch between Mala and S.K. Border and further towards Kudremukh has been made into a two-lane highway thanks to KIOCL’s earlier mining activities.

The ghat stretch between Mala and Tanikodu has been a crucial passage between the coast and the hinterlands, especially when Agumbe Ghat was experiencing heavy traffic. Not many drivers take this route because of the 29 km single-lane stretch.

50 acres land

Mr. Poojary said the issue could be resolved if the Revenue Department hands over about 50 acres of land to the Forest Department in exchange for forest land to be utilised for the road widening. The MP said he has scheduled a meeting with the Chikkamagaluru Deputy Commissioner on Saturday to sort out the issue.

Bridges

PWD officials said the government had sanctioned the reconstruction of three major bridges on the stretch, including Gulagunjimane and Korkanahalli, earlier. The bridges have become almost dilapidated over the years. However, the same could not be executed because of objections from the Forest Department.

Mr. Poojary hoped that the widening work would soon start with the exchange of revenue land for forest land, thereby reviving the proposal that was stalled way back in 1999.