BMRCL in favour of a commercial corridor

BMRCL in favour of a commercial corridor

The Hindu

This is among the suggestions made to the Government

# In Taipei, 100 metres on either side of the track set aside for corridor
# A BMRCL team had visited some cities abroad

BANGALORE: The earmarking of a commercial corridor along the proposed metro tracks on the lines of mass transport systems abroad is one of the recommendations that Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) has made to the State Government.

The BMRCL has suggested that 50 metres on either side of the track should be set aside for vertical growth.

In the Taiwanese capital Taipei, 100 metres on either side of the metro rail had been declared a corridor. To enable vertical growth, the Government should allow an increase in floor area ratio (the ratio of land to the height of the building on it) from the present 1:1.75 to 1.5, V. Madhu, Managing Director, BMRCL, told The Hindu .

A BMRCL team, which visited Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur, was impressed by the transport-oriented growth model there. The team will soon submit a detailed report to Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Mr. Madhu said.

Others in the team were Sudhir Chandra, Adviser to BMRCL, and Sandeep Das, Executive Director (Finance).

The team saw huge property development along the metro or monorail corridors. In one instance (Tsing Yi, Hong Kong), 3,500 families lived in a high-rise building with a metro rail station in the basement.

People had easy access to the metro as offices and commercial centres were located in the corridor alongside it. Mr. Madhu said Bangkok — which resembles Bangalore in size and population — too had opted for this model. It had 130 km of elevated road and had plans for 120 km of mass rapid transport system with a third of it already functional. He said there was another reason why Bangalore should follow these cities.

The carrying capacity of the areas such as Mahatma Gandhi Road at present was 20,000 people per hour per direction. The metro would be able to transport 40,000 people when it becomes operational. In many of the cities that metro team visited, there were easy walkways to huge commercial complexes on either side of the corridor, he said.