Smart City: Bengaluru’s core areas shortlisted for project

Voting process started as first part of public consultation

Which one will it be: Malleswaram or K.R. Market? Laying to rest intense speculation about which part of Bengaluru will be pitched to earn it the Smart City tag, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has shortlisted only the core city areas in its third attempt to make it to the list. With only 19 of the 100 slots left and lesser funds available than earlier, the BBMP has also narrowed it down to specific locations rather than whole areas.

Bengaluru has lost out on the tag twice, with smaller cities such as Tumakuru and Davanagere having beaten it.

Among the locations in the race to represent the city this time are the Shivajinagar and Kempegowda bus stands, K.R. Market, Russell Market, Tipu Fort, Kempegowda Museum, Brigade Road, and Commercial Street.

BBMP officials involved in readying the shortlist said an analysis of the top 10 cities selected the last time revealed that seven of them had pitched core city areas. Moreover, the limited availability of funds was also a factor.

“Unlike the last year, when ₹6,600 crore was available, this time the funds available are ₹500 crore. The remaining will have to come from the State government or through private-public partnership. The larger the area, more the burden on the State government,” said N. Manjunath Prasad, Commissioner, BBMP.

No suburbs

Explaining the reason behind ignoring the suburbs, Mr. Prasad said the core city areas “belonged to and were used by everyone”.

“We can showcase many things in these areas; the TenderSURE roads, for example, which the Centre has taken as a model for the country. The core areas are also a good mix of the old and the new, which will be advantageous to us,” he said, and added that the scope of developing the chosen destinations utilising the funds through the project was also larger.

Vote for your favourite

Having also promised to garner public opinion this time, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), along with Jana Urban Space Foundation, which has been chosen as the consultant to prepare the proposal, has thrown open its list to the public. Citizens can now vote for the location of their choice on the ichangemycity portal (http://www.ichangemycity.com/smart-city-bengaluru), a Janaagraha initiative. Over 30,000 votes have been received so far. Public consultations are also in the pipeline.

But how much weight will the views of the public hold when the final proposal is made? BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said citizens’ opinion would be considered before a decision was made.