Designing infrastructure intelligently

Designing infrastructure intelligently

A holistic and integrated approach in roads, transport and town planning can alleviate the infrastructure woes of the city, says NANDHINI SUNDAR.

Deccan Herald

CHOKED roads, pot-holed structures, bad planning, too many one-ways, you name it; they have all been talked about, written, generally beaten to death. But what action has been taken? Have the authorities taken note of these? Yes. Have they discussed possible solutions? Plenty. Has that resulted in something being done to alter this situation? Negligible.

There is plenty of talk about widening the existing roads, making more of them one-ways to ease the flow of traffic. But how long will it take for these widened one-way structures to get choked again? Perhaps, not too long, if the present rate of growth of man, machine as well investment is taken into account.

Growing population

As per 2001 census, Bangalore is the fifth biggest city in India with a population of about 5.7 million of which 43 lakh people live within the Bangalore Municipal Corporation limits. The density of population is approximately 10,710 per sq. km.

According to Dr T V Sekhar, of The Institute for Social and Economic Change, “In addition to the 43 lakh people, the floating population is estimated to be more than 10 lakhs, besides an estimated 12 lakh people living in close proximity of the city. This means, an estimated 6.5 million persons use 4,200 km of road.” Add to this the strain of over 20 lakh vehicles plying roads that are ill structured to handle such volume of traffic. The breakdown of infrastructure will then come as no surprise.

Says George Kuruvila, architect and town planner, “What the city is currently seeing is knee-jerk planning and not macro planning. Steps like widening the roads is a short-term solution. Besides, by widening the roads, you are merely feeding the problem. What we need is good public transport system, not ones used by the West that now stand outdated but sophisticated versions like magnetic levitation trains used in Shanghai. We could use smaller trains, as they are more economical. Apart from this we need to build satellite townships that will take the load off the city and reduce congestion.”

He says, “Making one-ways at random again will not help. We need to have N-S-E-W one-way corridors, which will be more effective in managing the traffic. Currently there are one-ways merging into 2-ways in the opposite direction along with severe bottlenecks at the intersections. We also do not have dedicated lanes for two, three and and four-wheelers. A separate lane should be assigned for four-wheelers including at the intersections. But all this will still not completely solve our problems. We have to build satellite townships that have easy accessibility to the city and this has to be done on a war footing.”

Decongesting

The Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) proposes to create infrastructure on such lines to ease the congestion in the city. However, the project, signed in 1995, is yet to take off.

According to the Managing Director Ashok Kheny of (NICE), “Our project, once operational, will solve the traffic problems of Bangalore for the next 15 years.” The 111km Bangalore-Mysore expressway proposed by NICE promises to cut travel time to an hour and a half. The project also proposes to build 41 km of outer peripheral road, which on completion, is estimated to ease traffic flow on Bannerghetta road by about 40,000 vehicles and on the Tumkur road heading towards Hosur road by about 50,000 vehicles.

Along the expressway, 5 sustainable townships with a population of one lakh each are proposed. Besides this, there will be a corporate centre, industrial centre, commercial centre and others, designed to shift the working/living base from Bangalore. These centres will have easy and quick accessibility to the city so as to encourage this shift and resulting de-congestion.

The project has already started work in 17.5 km in various locations where the land has been transferred by the government. However, the rest of the project is held up, pending transfer of land from the government. Says Kheny, “The project has been held up merely due to political reasons. Legally we are on firm ground and we already have a list of more than 4,000 people comprising business houses, professionals and others, who want to move in there as soon as the project is completed. Unfortunately, people who are not qualified in traffic management are involved in providing solutions. Nobody is interested in finding a cure, they are only treating the symptom temporarily.”

Satellite townships

A good example of a successful satellite township can be seen in Pune, where a new software park called the Cybercity Magarpatta is being developed. Situated just five km from the city centre and 9 km from the airport, this IT park, probably the largest in the country, on completion, proposes to attract leading companies to set up shop there. By developing a high tech work environment with all the facilities along with a self-sustained residential township in a green surrounding, the project aims to provide solution to work as well as living besides taking the load off the city.

Contending with choked roads and extended travel time, some industrial houses in the city are showing signs of moving to less frequented areas.

Recently, the IT services major, MindTree Consulting, set up its new campus, with a capacity to house 5000 people, on Mysore road, away from the Electronic City.

Subroto Bagchi, Chief Operating Officer, MindTree Consulting says, “when MindTree began looking for a place to set up its next campus, we wanted to be closer to where our potential employees stay to reduce their travel time. A significant number of IT professionals stay in the Western parts of the city. Our new campus is closer to these areas.”

Side effects

Has the state of infrastructure deterred multi-nationals and professionals to set up business here and alternatively take up assignments?

Says Nandu Kanuga, a leading HR consultant in the city and President of KBC Associates, “The infrastructure situation has indeed prompted candidates to demand a higher salary for placements here as compared to places like Pune or Gurgaon. Besides they also show a greater inclination to move to such cities as compared to Bangalore. This is true for the NRIs too when they move to India.

This has invariably pushed up hiring costs for the industry. International business houses again have shown preferences for other cities over Bangalore. This is because of the higher hiring cost as well as infrastructure, narrowing their cost advantage of setting up business here.”

Says Kuruvila, “Unless the problem is addressed at the macro level, where the potential future growth is gauged and steps are taken to ease the crowding within the city by developing workable, efficient satellite towns, the city is just seeing the beginnings of a major infrastructure breakdown.”

Perhaps developing efficient satellite townships besides constructing efficient feeder roads to ease the traffic within the city is our only solution. But if and when it will happen is the big unanswered question.

The author can be reached at e-mail: nandy6488@yahoo.com