Mangalore: Ashok Kheny Dreams Big for Coastal Belt
By Melka Miyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Jun 9: Ashok Kheny, managing director of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE), is well known for the spats and frictions he exchanged with former Prime Minister H D Devegowda and his two sons. He has been successful in humbling the attempts made by Devegowda and his scions in legal forums. Kheny has shot into limelight again, after he created a sensation in coastal Karnataka by putting forth his dream projects.
Kheny has not been able to complete the express highway between Mysore and Bangalore on schedule, owing to various hurdles posed by the Gowda family. Now the situation has changed for the better and Kheny is confident of speeding up the remaining work. Meanwhile, he has chosen to give prominence to Mangalore in his fresh plans.
Kheny must be a relieved and happy man now, considering that the BJP has risen to power in the state. He had to face the ire of the election commission after he campaigned for the BJP during the recently concluded assembly elections. Therefore, it may not be unreasonable on his part to expect the party to bow to his wishes and sanction the proposed projects in toto.
Kheny has said, that this is the ideal time to start work for the express highway between Mangalore and Kolar, Karwar-Bellary and Bidar-Bangalore. He is busy giving final touches to these three projects, he has claimed.
Express highways normally have six lanes. One such highway lies between Pune and Mumbai. If the road between Mangalore and Kolar via Bangalore is developed on similar lines, the port city will have better accessibility to the state capital and travel time will stand pruned down drastically, although the city does not have much connection with Kolar.
The iron ore laden lorries have long been making the life miserable for the people using national highway 17 due to multifarious problems created them including destroying the infrastructure like roads, bridges etc., At the same time, delay in completing the four laning work between Suratkal and B C Road has created further bottle necks for the smooth movement of traffic on this road. Therefore, the citizens of coastal Karnataka are looking for better infrastructure in the long run.
One road that needs to be developed on these lines is the highway between Mangalore, which is growing into a major commercial hub and Mumbai, the commercial capital of the country. If some private developer comes up with a proper project and develops this road into an express highway, it would definitely be a resounding success, considering various cities that it passes through and the heavy traffic presently witnessed on this road. The expressway however, will have to necessarily contain plans to widen and reconstruct numerous bridges including minor ones that dot this highway.
About Ashok Kheny:
(Times of India)
Imagine A fibre optic cable network between Washington D.C. and Jacksonville (Florida)spanning some 1,250 km laid in three months flat. Building the first and only people mover transit system using linear induction motors in Detroit.
Building the first trans-Atlantic fibre network between New York City and Los Angeles (alongside the railway line). Behind these projects and many more is a man now familiar to the people of Karnataka.
The man behind Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC), Ashok Kheny was happily retired until the governor of Massachusetts visited Bangalore in 1995 and the idea of an expressway between Bangalore and Mysore was mooted.
A masters degree holder in management science and engineering from Woster Polytechnic (Woster, Massachusetts), Kheny had the gall to tell his recruiting officer in Penn Central (later Conrail, a railway company in the US) that he would quit if he doesn't rise to the level of vice-president in five years. That was in 1974. In 1979, Kheny did quit Penn Central to float his own company SAB Engineering and Constructions Inc. and Railway Systems Design Inc. (RSD).
In the next seven years, SAB implemented some of the prestigious projects in California, New York, Florida, Detroit and Massachusetts. "They believed me. My credibility was good,” says Kheny when asked how Americans came to trust a company run by an Indian. Though not everyone did.
For instance,Kheny's IT venture NSI Logic which was into CAD/CAM system had to be sold off as venture capitalists refused to back an Indian entrepreneur. "The only other company into CAD/CAM at that time was IBM and (technical) magazines had rated our product to be better than their's," says Kheny. The US administration recognised Kheny's contribution and in 1987, President Ronald Reagan honoured this little giant with the 'Outstanding Businessman of the Year of a Minority Community Award'. For Kheny, who hails from Kheny Ranjol in Bidar district, this was the highest recognition he could hope for. By 1993, Kheny had made a fortune from SAB's success.
He sold portions of his business and decided to retire. "One day my sons came back home crying. Other children in their class had ragged them saying you are dirty because you are Indians. That's when I decided to come back to India and contribute to make this as great as America," says Kheny. The tryst with Karnataka started thus. His first project in the state wasthe bypass road near Dharwad city. But a project like BMIC was his original passion.
He is described as a workhaholic, passionate and die-hard believer, by his colleagues. "Even if it takes another 10 years, I will pursue this project and complete it," he says. Having spent over 30 years in the US, Kheny has still not opted for a US citizenship.