Rapid growth & shortage of facilities is pulling down Bangalore

Good, bad & ugly
Rapid growth & shortage of facilities is pulling down Bangalore
The Economic Times


Mention infrastructure and Bangalore will cringe. Pending flyovers, bad roads, traffic congestion, an international airport that is past many deadlines, a metro rail network that saw much debate and little work — the list goes on. Post floods, battering from the IT industry, and a spot-the-pothole contest, the roads are finally getting a facelift. Potholes are being filled, and road users will hopefully get a sigh of relief soon. Authorities reiterate that airport work is indeed going on as per the schedule. Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited has begun spot surveys for the metro. The new CM, HD Kumaraswamy has promised the city a good infrastructure in the near future. Things seem to be looking good.

Parallel to this slow progress of infrastructure development, the city has been growing at a mindboggling
pace — be it number of migrants moving into the city, new firms setting shop, more housing complexes, or the burgeoning share of vehicles on the roads. The city may be struggling now, but city planners are confident that in a few years, Bangalore will be at par with any world-class city, in terms of transport, housing, water supply and other factors that play a crucial role in infrastructure development.

“Three most important thing for any city of global standards is a good transport system. A mass transport system like the metro is an absolute precondition,” says MN Vidyashankar, commissioner, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). “Other components are power, water supply and housing. If any one of these have a snag, the system will not function well. We need all of them, not just one of them,” he says.

According to him, Bangalore has the potential to be a global city, and if all the projects are completed as scheduled, Bangalore will be such a city in the next 10 to 12 years. “In terms of water supply, we have sufficient infrastructure in place till 2050. Bangalore is one of the few cities in the country with a lot of good private developers. So if we encourage private sector partnerships, housing shortage will be taken care of,” adds Vidyashankar. Engineer-in-chief of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), Ramegowda puts emphasis on comprehensive water supply and underground drainage system. “There are some BMP, BDA and CMC (City Municipal Council) areas that need to be worked on in terms of water supply and drainage. Decongestion of traffic is another priority. For this, some form of mass rapid transport system is required — either a metro or a monorail. This should have been done 20 years ago,” he says. Scientific solid waste management has to be brought in too, keeping the growing population in mind, he adds.