Mangaluru : The four-laning of the road from Addahole to BC Road will start in September, over 7,000 trees will be axed and 4,500 trees have already been axed from Uppinangady to Gundya MP Nalin Kumar Kateel said.

Speaking at a review meeting chaired by him on Tuesday at Zilla Panchayath office, he said that It requires at least six to seven hours to fell 50 trees. The power supply has to be disconnected for the work. The trees are felled by both the Forest Department and L&T, he said.

L&T project manager V B Katti said that the work on blasting the boulders near Gundya has also been started. Materials have been collected for the road work and will soon be shifted to the sites. The target is to complete half a kilometre of the road daily.

Even the service road on the stretch will be concrete. L&T will set up a ready mix concrete plant near Nethravathi bridge in BC Road and another at Golithottu.

Special land acquisition officer and competent authority Manjunath said that land on the 65-km, 53-km stretch has been acquired and handed over to the contract agency. The acquisition is pending at Kalladka, Panemangaluru and Narikombu. The process will be completed within three months, he said.

A compensation of Rs 115 crore has been paid to the owners of the land. On the 65-km stretch, the total land to be acquired is 270.65 hectare, of which, 251.54 hectare has been completed. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reviewed the progress of the work on May 28, he added.

He also said that the project was given to L&T on March 28, 2017 and the deadline is 30 months from the date of awarding the contract.

The four-laning work includes the 45.148-km stretch from Hassan to Maranahally.