Freedom Park to be ready by mid-2007

Freedom Park to be ready by mid-2007
Multi-level and Basement Parking At Venue
The Times of India

Bangalore: Can we have a violent rally and a massive carpark alongside? Civic authorities are grappling with this dilemma at the Freedom Park, the erstwhile Central Jail.
Early this year, the state government issued an order stating that six acres at Freedom Park be earmarked for rallies. Which meant that the original design for the park submitted by architects Mathew and Ghosh, underwent a slight change. But authorities implementing the project envisaged this problem — what if the mobs at the rally space indulge in violence, what will happen to the cars, or the touch-screen kiosks, or the landscaped garden?
To tackle just this the dispensation at the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) is considering the idea of basement parking. Explains BMP commissioner K Jairaj, “A part of the area earmarked for the rally is supposed to be used for parking. We will probably have multi-level plus basement parking. This will help protect the vehicles too.”
Authorities have also been in talks with tobacco major ITC, to fund the Freedom Park project.
ITC chairperson Y C Deweshwar is supposed to have visited the area for an inspection, some time ago. The project when conceived in 2003, was estimated to cost Rs 5 crore. Today it has escalated to northwards of Rs 11 crore. “We are trying to finish the project by June 2007,” says Jairaj.
As for work at the ground level, the Hyde-park like protest area will be situated behind the barracks of the erstwhile jail. A grid survey and ground level transfer of pillars have been completed, say engineers. Work on plumbing, sanitation and water supply is underway.
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Former mayor C M Nagaraj had announced that the “world’s largest watch tower’’ would be constructed at the park. Urban planner Vishwanath had even come up with the design for the structure. The tower, is not happening.
Once the park is ready, alongwith the rally space, demonstrations and the attendant traffic-jams disrupting city life, might just be regularised.
The project took 22 months for governmental clearance.
Of the 22 acres at the park, six acres are set aside for rally space.