Capital Gains New Urban Look

Capital Gains New Urban Look
Rs 682 CRORE HAS BEEN SET ASIDE FOR URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES. TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT PROJECT TO GET Rs 350 CRORE
The Times of India


Finance minister Yediyurappa has realised one thing: Bangalore needs a boost. Urban local bodies, waiting with bated breath for funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), have been pleasantly surprised at the largesse: Rs 682 crore for urban infrastructure services and Rs 48 crore for basic services for the urban poor.

Bangalore was anyway in a vantage position with the Comprehensive Development Strategy Plan, CDSP, well in place. And projects under NURM take care of agglomerated Bangalore, which includes the seven city municipal councils and Town Municipal Council.

A facelift for roads, augmentation for water supply, ensuring that the four major drainage valleys are desilted and housing in slum pockets are significant things to look out for.

The urban local bodies — BDA, BMP and BWSSB — will have to match it with a financial contribution of Rs 2,000 crore. Can they? The BMP’s budget on March 24 will reveal more.

Parking Authority

In a situation where parking availability and traffic congestion plays a decisive role for the average Bangalorean, the government has set up the Bangalore Metropolitan Parking Authority. It will ensure that vehicles do not occupy prime space on roads, instead, there will be more space for traffic. The parking authority will develop vehicle parking lots, for which funds will be generated through organised parking management. Read: multi-level parking complexes. BMP is planning 20 of these.

B-TRAC, be on track

Zipping and zooming. That will be the pace of traffic movement in Bangalore if the plans of BTRAC, Bangalore Traffic Improvement Project 2010, get off. It has been allocated Rs 350 crore, with Rs 44 crore for this year alone. On the lines of Singapore, Sydney, New York, Bangalore will have Intelligent Transportation System, widespread traffic signals, palmtops and PDAs to issue bills and fines, top notch enforcement with very little human intervention. And this, say traffic police proudly, is the first such project in the country!

Sourcing Land Resources

Taking cognisance of the fact that a survey of urban lands has not been undertaken, the government has decided to survey government lands, evaluate them on market value under the jurisdiction of the BMP, and create a land bank or revolving fund. Geographical Information System (GIS) will be used for the purpose. The FM has allocated Rs 1 crore, which will also be used to effectively issue guidelines for land resources.

What about Ring Road?

The BDA is in the process of distributing 20,000 sites in the Arkavathy Layout. The Peripheral Ring Road (PRR), according to BDA, is to be developed at Rs 1,500 crore, including land acquisition. While a mention of the project has been made, the allocation has not been spelt out.