CM gets cracking on City woes

CM gets cracking on City woes
DH News Service, Bangalore:
All those deeply worried about the crumbling infrastructure of Bangalore, now have a reason to smile: Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has got cracking in this regard.

The chief minister on Tuesday held a protracted discussion with all the stakeholders of Bangalore development for nearly four hours and took some on-the-spot decisions.

Attended by the heads of BDA, BBMP, BWSSB, BMTC, BMRC, Bescom, BMRDA, LDA and KSPCB, City’s elected representatives, top urban development officials and the chief secretary, the meeting apprised Yeddyurappa of the present state of affairs and plans to fix the problems. Drinking water scarcity and choking traffic were on the top of the agenda.

The chief minister also decided to involve citizens in the development process. He has convened an interaction meeting with experts in urban development on June 28 at IISc campus. He said from now on he will review the progress of all projects once in every two months.

The CM also gave his stamp of approval to BWSSB’s ambitious integrated water management scheme, which envisages to supply lake water and used-water from treatment plants for potable purpose, and two elevated corridors to ease traffic congestion.

He directed officials to expedite ongoing projects like Namma Metro, Peripheral Ring Road and new Kempe Gowda residential layout among others.

BWSSB project
With the rapidly expanding Bangalore facing severe shortage of drinking water, the BWSSB has drawn up a Rs 2,533-crore project to supply treated water drawn from selected lakes and tertiary treatment plants to residents, mainly to those living on the outskirts.

“Bangalore is facing around 40 per cent shortfall in water supply. While the demand is 1,200 million litres per day (MLD), the availability is just around 870 MLD. Hence, we have decided to make use of water available in lakes for potable purpose,” he told reporters.

As per the plan, water from 80 selected lakes will be drawn, treated, mixed with potable water and supplied to consumers. Similarly, it also plans to convert sewage water into potable by first treating the same in a treatment plant and mix it with fresh Cauvery water before supplying it to residents.

Special Ultra Filtration Membrane treatment will be done to ensure that water is bacteria-free. It will also be disinfected.

As per the cost, the treated water will be cheaper than the Cauvery water. While the cost of supplying every kilolitre (KL) of Cauvery water is Rs 16, a KL of treated water will cost anywhere between Rs 12.50 and Rs 14.

Elevated corridors
Yeddyurappa showed the green signal to BBMP to take up two elevated corridor projects: the 16-km North-South corridor connecting Hebbal to Madivala through Minsk Square and Vellara junction and the 12-km Bangalore East corridor connecting Kodihalli and Kundalahalli through Vellara junction.

BBMP has been directed to explore the possibility of two-tier roads as part of these projects so that they serve long-term traffic needs. There is no need for land acquisition for these projects and they will be implemented under Swiss Challenge method, officials said.

Parking complexes
BBMP’s automated vehicle parking complexes at 10 places have been approved by the CM.

An estimated 21,000 vehicles can be parked once these projects are implemented.