With barely two days left for the State budget to be unveiled on February 8 and Lok Sabha elections around the corner, infrastructure in Bengaluru has taken on a political tone.
Following criticism from Bengaluru Development Authority Chairman S T Somashekhar on stalled development work, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara responded by saying the coalition government had cleared proposals worth ₹50,000 crore for the city's infrastructure. Much of that allocation – nearly ₹44,000 crore – is for mega projects such as elevated corridors, a steel flyover and the peripheral ring road, that are expected to decongest the city.
However, the many projects that are already underway with the same promise to ease congestion and bottlenecks – grade separators, signal-free corridors, flyovers and widening of roads – have been limping along for many years now. The much delayed white-topping of roads has only added to the woes of motorists.
ADVERTISEMENT
Of the four signal-free corridors that aim to create 51-km of signal-free stretches in the city, only one has been completed. The remaining three have missed their deadlines by several years, admit civic officials. The BBMP has not been able to widen a single road in the last decade despite plans to work on 40 major roads.
Urban expert Ashwin Mahesh and groups like Citizens for Bengaluru (CfB) argue that the government’s premise that Bengaluru’s road infrastructure is inadequate and is in need of corridors and steel flyovers is false.
“Most congestion is at junctions. Attacking these bottlenecks with well-designed interventions across the city, especially at 24 junctions where radial arterial roads intersect with ring roads, will ease congestion to a large extent. But this design must also address the concerns of pedestrians and bus transit,” said Mr. Mahesh.
ADVERTISEMENT
Srinivas Alavilli of CfB said that there is a ‘projectification of interventions in the city, and an affinity towards mega projects and infrastructure for private transport. The need of the hour is for micro interventions and huge investments on mass rapid transit’.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said, “Most projects are delayed for two major reasons: staggered permission from traffic police and difficulty in acquiring land. Property-owners are not only refusing to accept TDR, but are also refusing to give up properties on cash compensation as well. While junction interventions are necessary, we need to look at the macro picture as well, for which several projects have been planned.”
White topping: Snail’s pace adds to traffic woes
White-topping is billed as a solution to bad stretches and potholes, but the slow pace of work on major arterial roads has added to the congestion in the city. BBMP has taken up work on 93.47 km of 29 road stretches at a cost of ₹972 crore.
The work order was given in August-September 2017 with a completion deadline of 11 months. But so far, the project has been able to achieve only 16.95% progress.
BBMP officials attribute the delays to several reasons from work being taken up at night, delay in shifting of service utilities below the road, staggered permission by traffic police and the 2018 Assembly elections.
The civic body is in the final stages of issuing work orders for white-topping another 62.56 km of 41 road stretches at an estimated cost of ₹709 crore. It has issued work orders for two of the eight packages these 41 roads are grouped into, and preliminary work on these roads has begun. The remaining six packages are in the process of tender finalisation.
Additional loop to Hebbal flyover
For more than two years, the cash-strapped Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has been struggling to build an additional loop of two lanes on the existing Hebbal flyover.
An additional loop could help motorists coming from the direction of Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) to the Central Business District. At present, they have only two lanes.
The project was conceptualised and a tender was floated in 2015. In 2016, uncertainty loomed over the project when the previous government proposed a steel flyover between Basaveshwara Circle and Esteem Mall crossing the Hebbal flyover. Subsequently, this proposal was dropped.
In 2017, work on the loop was revived. The BDA had set April 2018 as the deadline for opening the new loop. The project was derailed by non-availability of funds.
When the BDA realised that it was not in a position to fund the project, it wrote to the BBMP to take over the project. The State government has reportedly agreed to fund the project, but there is little sign of progress.
Okalipuram 8-lane corridor
It was conceived to ease congestion in the Central Business District, apart from ensuring smooth vehicular movement in Okalipuram, Rajajinagar, Magadi Road, Rajkumar Road, and other areas in the CBD. Though the work order was issued in December 2012, actual work began in 2013. At the time, the deadline for completion of the ₹102.84 crore project was 2014.
So far, only 75% of the project has been completed. The delay is being attributed to land acquisition and shifting of utilities. Including land acquisition costs, the total cost now stands at ₹353.21 crore.
According to BBMP officials, the South Western Railway (SWR) handed over 3.16 acres in July 2015 after the civic body paid the land acquisition cost of ₹158.20 crore. In July 2016, BBMP was allowed to demolish structures, including an electrical shed.
The BBMP is yet to acquire 196.557 sq.m. of land from a private company. By its own admission, the project is likely to be completed by June 2019.
Path to TenderSURE roads is packed with obstructions
Wide pavements free of obstruction with a carriageway of uniform width and utility ducts on either side of the road are the selling points of TenderSURE projects. The BBMP came under criticism after developing St. Mark’s Road, Church Street and a few other arterial roads as per norms specified under TenderSURE with critics saying the carriageway had been reduced.
The government later announced that 50 roads would be developed under TenderSURE. While work is progressing on many roads, civic officials admitted that contractors are not queuing up to participate in the process. Many expressed apprehension over the high tender premium.
BBMP officials highlighted the challenges in executing the TenderSURE project, primarily with inter-departmental coordination. A high-level committee has been constituted for better coordination.
The other challenge is ensuring services of utilities, such as power and water supply are not disrupted, while new utility lines are being created, apart from minimising public inconvenience by diverting traffic in coordination with the traffic police.