Why does every major infrastructure project proposed for Bangalore get stuck in controversy?

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Why does every major infrastructure project proposed for Bangalore get stuck in controversy?
The Hindu



CITY'S WOES There's no immediate solution in sight

The question has been asked more than once: "Why does every major infrastructure project proposed for Bangalore get stuck in controversy?" The sagas of the international airport project (now apparently under way), Arkavathy Layout, the Bangalore-Mysore expressway, ugly under-construction flyovers and the mass rapid transit proposals combine to create a unique Bangalore genre of the impossible. One simple reason could be lack of transparency.

The agencies that are in charge of the projects never come clean on what the terms of the proposals are: who will be benefited, who will be impacted, how much will it cost, who will pay, who will really execute it... ? The questions just hang in the air, vague and uneasy, coalescing and manifesting as protests and demonstrations for a while, often insinuating scandal, and then thin out into the vapour of confusion. There is never any sense of an overall plan for a city seemingly under siege.

Minister's take

Just when we all thought everybody is agreed that we don't need any more flyovers, Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran has apparently proposed 50 more for the city! Hello, sir, have you checked with someone here on what they think of flyover plans? Then there was one more story on yet another plan to build a four-lane "core ring road" within the city, within one year. We still don't know what happened to IT guru Narayana Murthy's wish for a "road on stilts" from the airport (which one?) directly to Electronics City.

Now, here is the latest on the Bangalore Metro. "Cleared," says the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC), every now and then, the latest pronouncement following the meeting of the Public Investment Board (PIB) in New Delhi on August 5. The PIB is the body entrusted with the responsibility of studying major projects which require government funding. Construction work on the metro project, which was supposed to start some time in 2003, has never taken off, despite promises (or threats) of a start every three months. It will be November, says the State Government now because the PIB has cleared it. At last, but has it?

The State Government has now written to the PIB that the recorded minutes of the August 5 meeting contain crucial omissions that will increase the investment burden on Karnataka. BMRC says it will "contest" the PIB minutes. So, where is the "clearance?" Senior government officials admit they have not even begun the process of acquiring private properties along the Metro alignment.

The PIB minutes, which are now in unofficial circulation, tell a grim story. The project cost is now estimated between Rs. 6,296 crores and Rs. 7431 crores. The PIB is firm that the central funding should not exceed 20 per cent of the project cost. Crucially, the PIB notes: "With a view to minimising the interest burden and improving the cash flow position of the project, equity contribution and subordinate debt may be provided and utilised before taking recourse to senior debt." In simple terms, this apparently means that the State should put in about Rs. 3,000 crores before asking banks and financial consortiums for funds. If you are optimistic enough to believe this Government will do it for Bangalore, I would like to see the same spiritual guru you are seeing.

The PIB itself seems to be jeering when it says: "The Government of Karnataka's participation in the project on the above financial parameters is a question to be decided by the State Government and its perception and confidence about its capability to finance and run a project of this magnitude." Well said, if a shade too diplomatic.

There are other very depressing ideas of the impossible in the PIB minutes, but to summarise them and make your day: 1) The Delhi Metro ridership projections "have been quite off the mark from actual ridership. The PIB felt that projected ridership of 8.2 lakh trips per day (for Bangalore)... is, in all likelihood, as overestimate." 2) "Cash losses, if any, during initial years would be fully borne by the State Government." 3) "There is an obvious need for a more detailed examination of various alternatives, options in regard to available and proven technologies, and facilities, and their techno-economic implications, including capital costs, recurring costs of operations and returns, along with costs of rehabilitation and resettlement... " (The PIB wants a small note on various technology options — their merits and demerits and reasons for preferring a rail-based metro for Bangalore — to be incorporated in the recommendations to the Cabinet).

Where's the transparency?

Finally, the PIB hints that it is disturbed over community non-acceptance of the metro proposal. "In view of the PIB, this would be essential pre-requisite as the public investments should essentially address the public good, and until the latter is not absolutely and transparently established and perceived as such, the smooth execution of the project and its subsequence operation may come under jeopardy." Transparency. That's the word.

It may be appropriate here to mention that the PIB also cautions the government about taking the alignment along Mahatma Gandhi Road and Cubbon Park, and underground, in general. "... particular care may have to be taken regarding the need to ensure against the possible subsidence of soil in certain parts of Bangalore City with appropriate soil treatment and structural measures to avoid subsequent operational hazards and costs — both financial and human." Honestly, we must demand that these guys in charge level with us.