Development projects that are going nowhere

Projects to ease access to Whitefield caught in land acquisition mess

The troublesome commute doesn’t seem likely to end any time soon, as projects that would have removed bottlenecks in Whitfield are in limbo.

R. Balasubramanya, a techie working in Whitefield and residing in Sunkadakatte, says he became a film buff during his commute to office. He watches almost two movies every day on his tab. “It takes at least two hours each way,” he said.

He isn’t alone. This seems to be the story of every commuter heading to Whitefield.

And the troublesome commute doesn’t seem likely to end any time soon, as projects that would have removed bottlenecks in Whitfield are in limbo.

The two signal-free corridors on Old Airport Road and Old Madras Road from the core city to Hope Farm junction, envisaged to reduce travel time by more than half of what it is at present, are caught in wrangles over land acquisition.

The roadblock that BBMP has hit in acquiring land for the project is a familiar one too. While BBMP insists on TDR as the mode of compensation, property owners insist on compensation as per the new land acquisition law.

The signal-free corridor on Old Airport Road, which is expected to reduce the travel time from MG Road to Hope Farm to 20 minutes from over an hour now, is scheduled for completion by March 2016. But the project is nowhere near taking off.

The project includes three underpasses at Kundalahalli junction, Suranjandas Road and Wind Tunnel Road junction, apart from road and footpath improvement. Over a year after the contracts (Rs. 140 crore) were issued for the project, BBMP has failed to acquire any land at the three crucial junctions.

Pre-fabricated concrete walls for the underpasses were ready at least six months ago.

Despite this, in May 2015 BBMP issued contracts (worth Rs. 130 crore) for another signal-free corridor on Old Madras Road between Ulsoor lake and Hope Farm junction with a flyover at Hoodi and two underpasses at Hope Farm and HP junctions. Both projects have been bagged by the same contractor. Even this project is yet to take off.

BBMP Commissioner G. Kumar Naik, said that the civic body is not in a position to give cash compensation and is planning to approach the property owners soon with the new TDR policy, which he termed lucrative. “We are waiting for the government to frame rules for the new policy,” he said.

Now the question is whether the new TDR policy will be good enough to persuade property owners to give up their land.

Growth pangs

From crawling traffic to gridlocks that sometimes run into several hours, Whitefield’s notorious traffic has been a talking point for commuters and residents. Over the past decade, the idyllic town has morphed to an area with a high density of population, but without planning.