Thrust on infrastructure and housing

Thrust on infrastructure and housing
The BDA has an agenda of creating the necessary civic infrastructure apart from developing residential layouts, says
V Nagarajan


The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) came into existence in January 1976 as a successful erstwhile City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) of Bangalore under a separate Act of the State legislature - the BDA Act 1976. This authority combined in itself the planning functions of the city planning authority and the developmental functions of the erstwhile CITB.
The development of Bangalore in a planned manner, creating quality infrastructure, provision of sites and services and catering to the housing needs of the masses are the focus areas of the BDA.
In order to provide a thrust to the ongoing infrastructure development, a number of projects have been proposed and under construction across the city. Among them, specific mention must be made about these.
Peripheral Ring Road
The Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) will connect the growing city's corners at the periphery. The proposed PRR will be 116 km and the total cost of the project including land acquisition is Rs 3,600 crores. The project will be implemented in two phases. Phase 1 will be from Tumkur Road to Sarjapur Road via Bellary Road, Old Madras Road and Varthur Road of a total of 65 km. Phase II will be from Hosur Road to Tumkur Road via Kanakapura Road, Mysore Road and Magadi Road of a length of 51 km. The 100 metre wide PRR will have 8-lane main carriageways and 3-lane service roads on either side with a buffer zone of 14 metres in between. The median of 12 metres will be reserved for metro/mono rail. Survey work of the road has been completed and land acquisition process is in progress.
Civic infrastructure
The works of the underpass at Magadi Road - West of Chord Road junction has been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 24 crores. Towards the construction of a railway bridge near Nayandahalli on Magadi-Mysore Road, the BDA has already deposited Rs 1 crore with the Railways. Tenders have been called for by the railways.
Hi-tech City project on Hosur-Sarjapur Road is on the anvil. The BDA has proposed to take up a corridor connecting the Outer Ring Road to the Electronic City for a length of 8.5 km at a cost of Rs 140 crores. A budget provision of Rs 50 crores has been made during 2007-08 for the formation of this layout.
For a flyover at Agara-Iblur junction, the process of tendering is in progress. This flyover is part of the JNNURM programme, at a cost of Rs 30 crores.
Housing
With a view to encourage vertical growth in the city, the BDA is planning to build multi-storeyed housing complexes in all its forthcoming layouts. All new layouts will have roads of minimum 40 feet width. It has been proposed to allot two lakhs good quality budget houses at affordable prices in places of smaller dimension sites.
In the background of unprecedented litigations creating hurdles in the formation of new layouts, BDA has proposed a new land acquisition policy. Under this policy, landowners will be partners in the development scheme and certain proportion of developed land will be given back to the owners. It will be a win-win situation for both BDA and landowners. The proposal is under serious consideration by the government.
New layouts
The BDA has also planned five new layouts spread over 56 villages in the outskirts of the city in lands identified for residential purposes in the Master Plan 2015. All these layouts are eco-friendly and will be developed with the participation and cooperation of the landowners. The five layouts will yield 1.76 lakh sites of different dimensions excluding CA sites and commercial sites. The BDA will distribute 90,000 sites through public notice. All these layouts will be developed by BDA from its own resources and proposals have been sent to the government.