Sights, sounds and smells from Bangalore: Several infrastructure projects hit `roadblock'

Several infrastructure projects hit `roadblock'

The Hindu

Many of them remain incomplete putting road users to hardship; deadlines are extended as a matter of routine

The BMP is the main agency that takes up road-related projects

Several grade separators are in the planning stages

Bangalore: Bangalore's roads are dug up and traffic diverted. Authorities request people to put up with it with the promise of a more comfortable ride in the future. But the digging has become endless and diversions an everyday affair, thanks to interminable delays in the completion of various key projects.

The concept of deadline is apparently unknown. Deadlines are extended as a matter of routine and authorities take no initiative in completing projects on time.

Had things gone as promised by the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), the city would have had 14 more traffic-easing underpasses by now. The BMP has been announcing these year after year without any move to implement them.

Grade separators at Hudson Circle, K.R. Circle, Ring Road-Tumkur Road Junction Peenya Dasarahalli junction and Khodays Circle and a Rs. 300-crore elevated corridor connecting the Central Business District to Mysore Road have been in the planning stages for two years now.

The BMP is the main agency that takes up road-related projects in the city. But, as one analysis of BMP performance by PROOF (Public Record Of Operations and Finance) shows, it takes nearly nine months to firm up proposals. Then follows long delays in calling for tenders, issuing work orders and the actual execution of the projects.

The Rail Over Bridge (ROB) under construction at Mathikere is to be completed in the next six months. But only 30 per cent of the project has been completed. The BMP has made no move to shift power lines, which are hindering the project. S.V. Shivaji Rao, a shopkeeper in the area, says: "They are working day and night but no progress is visible." The Rs 20-crore motorable roads project and the Rs 120-crore "Complete Blacktop" asphalting project to upgrade 1,000 km of roads were launched with much fanfare. The motorable roads project has remained on paper and only the first phase of the Complete Blacktop Project has been implemented.

Then there is the prestigious Rs. 177-crore Karnataka Municipal Reforms Project (KMRP), a World Bank-funded project that promises 40 pothole-free roads in the city. To be taken up in four phases, the first segment was to be finished on December 31 after several deadline revisions. Only three of the 40 roads are nearing completion while the rest will take at least until November.

An Expert Panel on Roads appointed by the High Court lambasted the quality of the road works. It has recommended that for the KMRP roads BMP should immediately plan and establish a minimum of three or four divisions to exclusively handle World Bank works.

K.V. Vasudeva Murthy, former Vigilance Director of Lokayukta, who had been specially deputed to BMP to observe project implementation, says: "Strong political will and a good administrator is necessary to finish the projects on time. Passing the buck leads to cost escalation and delay in execution, which ultimately benefits only the contractors."

Technical Adviser to the BMP R. Jayaprasad justifies the delays on the grounds that shifting utility lines takes time. Traffic diversions are another reason, he said. "We are looking working round the clock to finish projects on time." One more promise?