Road widening work begins

Road widening work begins
This exercise, using the TDR scheme, is in progress.
The Times of India


Two years after conceiving the concept of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), concrete work has started with road alignments being marked out. Red lines dotting Hosur Road and parts of Bellary Road are sections that BCC has demarcated for land requirement.

Of the 46 city roads slated for road widening, 10 busy arterial roads are being taken up on a priority basis. The 10 priority roads - Hosur Road, Palace Road, Airport Road, Hosur Luskar Road, Victoria Road, Murphy Road, Kensington Road, Dickenson Road, Ulsoor Road, and Bellary Road - are being tackled because of the traffic congestions and also because the roads lead from one to the other, like one continuous stretch.

According to sources in the BCC, road widening alignment is ready for 10 roads. The identified lands are marked across seven roads, the remaining is to be ready soon. Also, the comprehensive property details are ready for all 10 identified roads such as property size, worth etc while demarcation is being done by building compound walls on the identified road, for instance a compound wall has been constructed next to Carlton House and Palace Road.

Hosur Road, the first targeted for road widening, according to the official, has gained most success with TDR. After a comprehensive briefing on what giving up portions of land for a Development Rights Certificate, entails, BCC officials have given formal requisition TDR forms to 250 properties on Hosur Road (including Luskar Road) alone.

On Hosur Road, where the paramount paper work is ready, the alignment has been marked from Richmond Road to the Mico Factory. But even before officials can breathe life into the project, there are obstacles that need to be overcome. The major obstacle course apparently comes from the defense land near Johnson Market. "There is a substantial land requirement from them and the demarcation has to be pucca. Even if we alter as much as half a foot from the original plan, we will be in trouble. We have been making detailed presentations to them on TDR and after they are satisfied it would be sent to the Ministry of Defence in Delhi for clearance", explains a BCC source.

Like the BCC has maintained in the past, alignment of just how much land is required from either side of a particular road is pertinent to the specifics of the case. For instance, the National Dairy Research Institute, which stands on central government land at Hosur Road, has voluntarily given up 400 metres in length of land from the vast vacant stretch in the courtyard. Using this, say BCC officials, is advantageous for many because this means acquiring lesser land from others in the vicinity.

There's respite at other roads. In case of Palace Road, of the identified 27 properties, 22 are government properties and formal requisition letters would be sent as intimation, no bargaining and convincing is required here. Explains an official who has meticulously looked into issuing TDR forms, "a Transfer of Development Rights certificate is like government currency. In five or ten years from now, people can encash it, the situation will be similar like the real estate boom presently".