Absence of lanes for buses may cost city Rs. 3,000 crore

Absence of lanes for buses may cost city Rs. 3,000 crore

The Hindu

Bangalore supposed to get the money under national urban renewal mission

# Centre has hinted that it may not release the funds unless a BRT scheme is put in place
# RITES says it needs at least a month to prepare a detailed project report for part of the scheme

BANGALORE: Cities such as Ahmedabad are getting greater share of the Central funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) compared with Bangalore.

The reason: Bangalore does not have a project proposal on dedicated lanes for buses — a prerequisite for sanctioning projects under the scheme.

The Union Government perceives Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) — as dedicated lane bus system is called — to be key improvement over the existing infrastructure as it lets people travel in buses faster than private passenger vehicles.

This is seen as a way of wooing private vehicle users to public transport.

Bangalore's failure came to light at a seminar on BRT organised by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Volvo here recently.

BMTC Managing Director Upendra Tripathi sought an early submission of the proposal on BRT to the Centre to ensure that his organisation could get a grant of Rs. 3,000 crore this financial year under JNNURM.

Special Commissioner of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Gaurav Gupta said the Centre had given the "ominous signal" during his recent visit to Delhi that the funds would not be released for Bangalore unless it came up with a BRT proposal.

H.M. Shivanand Swamy, Professor and Associate Director of the Ahmedabad-based Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University, said Ahmedabad had a comprehensive BRT covering the entire city in place and was being implemented under JNNURM.

Imtiaz Ahmed, Managing Director of Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), said his organisation would need at least a month to prepare the detailed plan of the first of the Bangalore BRT proposal from Central Silk Board to Hebbal Flyover via K.R. Puram. The 31-km BRT stretch had some problems to tackle at important junctions, one of them being at the place where the Benniganahalli flyover and cable-stayed bridge meet in K.R. Puram.

Mr. Tripathi suggested to Mr. Ahmed to come out with the "broad picture" of the project within a couple of days so that the proposal could be forwarded to the Centre. If done before February 15, the Centre could approve BMTC's proposals. Mr. Ahmed agreed to the suggestion of Mr. Tripathi to be ready with a quick "broad picture" in time.

Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Lakshmi Venkatachalam, said the draft on the Comprehensive Transport and Traffic Plan (CTTP) was ready.

It would look beyond the present problems of Bangalore and take into its problems for the next 20 to 25 years.

It would cover other city corporations as well. Submission of CTTP is one of the prerequisites to avail funds for many of the projects under JNNURM.