Lake development authority's schemes get poor response

Lake development authority's schemes get poor response

The Hindu

Only eight lakes have been either adopted or taken on lease for maintenance

Bangalore: It was hailed as a public-private partnership that will revive over 200 lakes that have survived the city's unchecked growth.

But it has found few takers. Funds and lack of commitment have proved to be insurmountable hurdles for two partnership schemes — "Adopt-a-Lake" and "Expression-of-Interest" — that the Lake Development Authority (LDA) initiated two years ago. Under the "Adopt-a-Lake" scheme, of the 15 lakes up for adoption, only five found takers — Sheelavanthanakere, Kelaginakere, Mahadevapura Lake, Kundalahalli Lake and Chalkere.

Similarly, under the "Expression-of-Interest" scheme, of the 36 lakes on offer, only Nagavara, Vengaiahnakere and Hebbal lakes were taken over by private companies on a develop-operate-transfer (DOT) basis.

Under the "Adopt-a-Lake" scheme, the adopters are prohibited from carrying out commercial activities and only walking, jogging and low-key boating are allowed. Only 5 per cent of the foreshore area can be used for such activities. The lake is to be maintained by the adopters for five years.

Under "Expression-of-Interest" scheme, the lake is leased out and the LDA gets part of the revenues generated from the commercial activities carried out on such lakes. The lessee is allowed to run the lakes for 15 years.

"We started the scheme because we did not have the resources to maintain the lakes," said B.K. Singh, Chief Executive Officer of the LDA. "We thought that people who benefit from maintaining the lakes will come forward and take up the task," he said.

The LDA's targets for the two schemes were residents' associations and land developers. "The scheme was meant to sensitise the stakeholders of the lake," Mr. Singh said. But the problem has been that not many residents' associations could spend huge amounts of money on maintaining lakes.

Bucking the trend, the Sheelavanthanakere has been restored by Palm Meadows Residents' Association, which has spent Rs. 20 lakh on it. The association has built a walkway, created a fence and undertaken de-weeding and general cleaning of the lake. Ganesh Murthy from the association said: "We decided to take up the conservation of the lake because it was a major source of water for Whitefield and it would improve water table in the area." Mr. Singh said that land developers had a vested interest in developing the lakes as the value of the flats or sites would increase substantially if they had a lake near it. The authority had been hesitant to offer lakes for adoption to developers as once the properties were sold, it was feared that they might abandon the lake.