Experts call for decongesting city

Experts call for decongesting city
The Times of India

Bangalore: Is it possible to think of urban development without including Bangalore? Maybe it is, for investments in the state outside Bangalore stand at Rs 4,500 crore whereas the money pumped into Bangalore is about Rs 1,000 crore.
At a seminar titled “Cities of Karnataka: Magnets of Hope Beyond Bangalore” organised by the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) in Bangalore on Friday, panelists and participants reached a consensus that decongesting Bangalore was the biggest challenge at present. Anant Koppar, president, Mphasis, during a presentation noted that the vision maps prepared earlier have just remained at the documentation level sans any progress.
Yet Karnataka was hailed as the fastest growing state of the country with a GSDP growth of 8.3 per cent. Jawaid Akhtar, MD, KUIDFC, who made a comprehensive presentation on urban reforms in the state said the scenario looked optimistic. While explaining how a new approach could improve the sector, he acknowledged that municipal services in Karnataka were far from what was initially envisaged.
NEW APPROACH IN PROBLEM AREAS
Low coverage and collection of property tax — GIS Mapping, rationalisation of tax structure, collect user charge for all services Water tariff not meeting O&M costs — Volumetric pricing, addressing concern for the poor Lack of skills — capacity building Low efficiency and consumer orientation — Private Sector Participation