CM’s ‘roadmap’ hits roadblock

CM’s ‘roadmap’ hits roadblock
Vijay Times

When Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy took over the all the infrastructure projects within 100 days. A will be completing six months in office. Has he st hits and misses on an issue that is on everybody’s forward movement and some missed deadlines. The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) is doing projects taken up during the previous years . Barring a couple of projects, it is yet to embark on the new projects identified in its budget for 2006-07.

The detailed project reports (DPRs) for new projects are yet to be prepared. Except for a few stretches of roads under KMRP projects, large parts have been left unasphalted. As for the widening of 85 roads, work on only three roads have been taken up.

On the flip side, work on 16 of the 19 roads in the IT-BT corridor identfied for upradation has been completed.

- The problem is infrastructure projects are not executed at required pace - Lack of political will to get the project completed on time and a resource crunch are also contributing factors - Projects must be executed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system

Tendering process and attitude of contractors sometimes causes delay in projects

Need for proper monitoring by BMP engineers to avoid delays

Contractors also complain of non-payment of money which sometimes leads to delays There has been no change in the past five months. The road repairs done so far have been scrappy; the situation is back to square one.

Megha, student.

The chief minister may have honest intentions in improving the infrastructure but there should be speedy implementation of projects. Sushma, houswife There should be accountability from top to bottom if the City’s infrastructure has to improve. Suresh V V, insurance executive With heavy rains yet to lash the City, the chief minister has really not been tested on the infrastructure front. It’s only during rains that infrastructure woes begin. Palaniappan, CA

TOMORROW FLYOVERS AND WATER SUPPLY

ROAD WIDENING With a view to putting an end to the traffic snarls, Kumaraswamy said priority would be accorded to widening of 13 roads by December. STATUS The work is in progress only in three of the 13 identified roads. They are: Bellary, Palace and Hosur roads. Tenders have been approved for the construction of compounds at places identified for widening. Work on other 10 roads is yet to be taken up.

SCORE: 3/13

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYBIOTECHNOLOGY (IT-BT) ROADS 19 roads taken up for upgradation. STATUS After CM’s repeated inspections, 16 roads have been completed. The remaining three roads - MG Road, Lower Agram and Airport Road - await completion.

SCORE: 16/19

KARNATAKA MUNCIPAL REFORMS PROJECT (KMRP) The BMP has identified certain roads, including those developed by Public Works Department (PWD) and other arterial roads, to be developed under KMRP funded by the World Bank. As many as 40 roads measuring 130 km across the City will be upgraded along with footpaths and drains at a cost of Rs 148.46 crore. The projects have been bifurcated into four packages. STATUS Under Package 1, only five roads have been developed. However, a small portion of the work was pending on several roads. They are:

nRoad connecting Kammanahalli Main Road with Maruti Sevanagar, 100-Feet Ring Road

nRoad linking Ejipura Road and Sarjapur Main Road via National Games Village and Bannerghatta Road

nRoad linking Lashkar Hosur Road with 100-Feet Ring Road in JP Nagar

nRoad connecting NR Square with Hosur Road via Mission Road

nRoad between Magadi Road, Karnataka Bhavan and Sunkadakatte via Jaimunirao Circle.

nThe work on Package 1 has commenced, while that on three other packages are yet to begin.

SCORE: 4.5/40

PLANNED SUBWAYS

nKR Circle

nMG Road near Arts and Crafts emporium

nNear Mysore Bank Junction

nNear Sangam theatre

nNear Palace Guttahalli Road

nNear Town Hall Junction

nIn front of Devaiah Park

nNear New Shanti Sagar on Airport Road

nNear Iskcon temple in Rajajinagar STATUS Work on a subway near the City Market has been awarded to a private firm and the work is to begin by August 15. A contractor was not ready to take up subway work at Town Hall as the approval was delayed. Instead of a subway at Iskcon, a foot overbridge will be constructed. The work will commence shortly. Work on a subway near Sujatha theatre has started.

SCORE: 2/9

H D Kumaraswamy

Chief Minister

It takes time to do quality work