Civic agencies and three Ps...

Civic agencies and three Ps...
The city's civic agencies have a host of options on offer for public-private partnership projects.
The Times of India

Bangalore City Corporation
The authority is in charge of putting in place civic amenities and infrastructure in about 100 wards in the city. Roads, flyovers, pavements, parks, streetlights, parking, medians, traffic islands, lakes, garbage clearance… the list goes on. To put it in a nutshell, it is one authority that more or less manages the whole city. The PPP policy was first adopted by the BCC for constructing medians, doing up traffic islands and maintaining them, and it has proved fruitful in many a case.

The authority is actively involving NGOs, resident welfare associations, private enterprises, builders, IT companies and various private firms who have shown keen interest in the upkeep of the city. While all these days, the PPP policy was limited to medians, parks and traffic islands, there are other inclusions in the work list under PPP going by some sources in the BCC. It may be noted here that the BCC had identified certain areas that are dominated by IT companies and large residential apartments including Airport Road, Indiranagar, Koramangala, J P Nagar etc recently to give it a fillip with respect to roads and pavements. Prominent IT companies and builders have already held one round of talks and are willing to fund the redoing of roads and pavements as they are the major beneficiaries. That's not it all. The PPP policy has also been adopted for putting up parking complexes under build-operatetransfer method in Majestic and on JC Road, Magrath Road, and Dickinson Road among others. However, it must be noted here that for a city as big as Bangalore, more such initiatives must be taken up.

Bangalore Development Authority

Formed by the state government to make layouts and retail sites, the authority has evolved into a proactive government agency that is expanding the cityscape in a scientific manner. Today, the authority has passed the transition of just a site retailer to a city maker. After layout formation the authority took up the construction of the 64-km Outer Ring Road that gave the city a new dimension followed by a series of flyovers to decongest the city traffic and development of some lakes. The BDA also followed PPP module for developing some of the roads, constructing medians, and developing traffic islands that were situated across the Outer Ring Road. The future initiatives of the BDA include Peripheral Ring Road, Hi-tech City project, and steel flyovers along with formation of satellite towns around Bangalore and the concept of PPP would make a huge difference, as it would bring in involvement, commitment and ownership. In the case of PRR, the project would by all means evoke a lot of response, as it would touch many of the areas that are developing because of real estate transactions. The possibilities of putting in infrastructure and backing-up the supporting system are unlimited.

Lake Development Authority

Once, there were around 1,000 small and big lakes in the city. The number is down to a few hundreds today. Encroachment on lakes and storm water drains, and negligence led to lakes dying. Thankfully, the government took up the cause and formed the LDA in 2000. Since then, as many as 18 lakes in the city have been desilted and developed. Parks along lakes, jogging tracks, landscaping, boating… the initiatives have been welcomed. These developed lakes also increase the real estate prices in its immediate environs. The LDA has been coordinating with BCC, BDA and CMCs to carry out the works. While the work on the lakes was being carried out, the enthusiastic resident welfare associations and builders proposed PPP for maintaining the lakes. And since then the LDA has been promoting lake adoption.

Lake tourism is the latest news making rounds in the city. Come 2006, the city will have two lakes to entertain people. From water sports to restaurants to amusement parks, the facilities here will be a perfect setting for a day out and will serve as a retreat for people of this city. Two Bangalore-based companies, Lumbini Garden and Parcibana have been entrusted with Nagavara and Vengayanakere to carry out lake tourism at an annual fee of Rs 15 lakhs each. Under the expression of interest, the firms will carry out the activities for five years. The firms will be entitled to utilise four percent of the lake area to put up structures be it for restaurants, shops or amusement park. The condition though is that all the activities here should be ecofriendly. Apart from carrying out the economic activities, the firms will be responsible for clearing weeds and cleaning the lake, and keeping at bay sewage water, apart from maintaining green spaces in and around the lake area. The LDA is keen on promoting such projects under the PPP scheme.

Public Works Department

Bangalore's realty buzz is the talk of the town. With almost all the open spaces in the Central Business District and Secondary Business District being exploited to the maximum, promoters and builders are looking at peripheral areas in the Bangalore Urban district. To put up IT campuses, office spaces or residential projects, proper roads are a must. As a first initiative, the Varthur Road was taken up by PWD under the PPP programme, which was followed by Bannerghatta Road. The PPP will come in play here again as the peripheral roads are being developed by the PWD.