Filling the Gaps

Step aside, Mr Premji and Mr Murthy. The 450-member Bangalore Chamber of
Industry and Commerce (formerly the Greater Mysore Chamber of Industry) is the
current screamer of the city's woes. Irked by the continuing lack of will of
the state government and civic agencies to set right Bangalore's pitiable
state of infrastructure, the BCIC is making no bones of the fact that this time
round the industry means business. The war-cry was sounded off with BCIC's
announcement to boycott the BangaloreIT.in, slated for November 2005. This
followed the decision of the Bangalore Forum for IT, a group of 18 IT

companies, to shun the country's premier IT event.

The
infrastructure issues remain. So does the frequent passing of the buck between a
glut of civic agencies Bangalore has been blessed with the lack of will to
update and enforce outdated infrastructure maintenance and building regulations;
the lack of will to provide basic amenities-water, power, good roads-consistently;
the lack of will to maintain pothole-free roads, and relay old roads, prevent
water-logging during rains, cleaning up drains or a comprehensive traffic
management plan.

Anant Koppar, president, BCIC and former chief of Kshema Technologies, has
indicated that the government is missing the woods for the trees-addressing
larger issues like the international airport and the planned Metro railway
system, instead of ensuring consistent availability of basic infrastructure,
quick solutions to chronic issues. Ergo, in the eyes of the industry, the
protestations of successive Karnataka governments on the pathetic infrastructure
scene continue to lack one key ingredient-credibility.

Hi-tech zones of Bangalore have seen mixed land-use patterns where residences
co-exist with high-rise condominiums and well-appointed corporate offices. The
BCIC, which represents 95% of the capital investment and 90% of the labor
employed in Karnataka's corporate sector, is now pushing for barring houses
from being constructed inside demarcated industrial zones.

Where chaos is born

Water everywhere, but not a drop to drink-this is true of many suburbs.
Come the rains, and flash floods break out. The roads groaning with traffic
which sputters painfully through a clustering of potholes, now become potent
death-traps. "Where do you know lurks the deepest pothole when the water
covers the road 4 ft deep? In Bangalore, it rains for 20 minutes on an average,
and the roads are flooded for 20 hours!" say exasperated motorists and
pedestrians.

The over 4,400 buses currently on Bangalore roads are run by staff who fight
multiple challenges of pollution, overcrowding, lack of sufficient number of bus
depots and rashly overtaking vehicles. While conceding that bus drivers are also
to blame for a motoring environment which has rapidly slid into chaos, Bangalore
Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) MD Upendra Tripathi says,
"Everybody talks of the need for a good public transportation system. But
when we add more buses we get more complaints. Remember that one bus can help
replace about 20 two-wheelers and four cars. We will increase the number of
buses by another 1000 by next year, and encourage company personnel to utilize
them."

The lack of bus bays is unique to Bangalore bus stations. The BDA's
Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for Bangalore announced in September, does
not propose for bus bays anywhere either, says Tripathi. While admitting that
the city planners did not provision for bus bays, Tripathi maintains that
upcoming bus stations in new areas will have them.

The same cannot be said of the 2.5 lakh autorickshaws currently clogging
Bangalore's narrow roads. These will hardly cater to the needs of even a
fraction of the current population of 6 million people, growing at a CAGR of
32.5%. This figure alone is likely to reach approximately 9 million by the year
2021. Obviously, the CDP will be racing against time to reach its goal of
meeting the needs of a population of 8.84 mn by the year 2015.

Accommodating growth

Civic officials say that the burgeoning pace of urban development can only
be further accommodated by allowing it to extend to the proposed Peripheral Ring
Road, a key component of the CDP. This year, BDA finally completed and
commissioned the Outer Ring Road-first proposed by the Central Road Research
Institute in 1964. BDA Commissioner MN Vidyashankar believes that a mass
transport system would solve 90% of the city's problems.

Some of the objectives and key features of the 10-year Draft Master Plan
2015, under the CDP, include land use planning and key urban infrastructure
proposals to promote logistic activities in good areas with good accessibility
to various modes of transportation, implementation of newer ring roads to reduce
traffic congestion and setting up a road network to ensure proper connectivity.

This should also ensure that employees of IT hubs like Sarjapur Road,
Bannerghatta Road and ITPL, which currently manage without bus stations, can
finally avail of them.

Says Koppar, "The proposed Draft Master Plan is not an end in itself.
All issues should be addressed and an urban design plan for central Bangalore,
an urban regeneration plan with relocation strategy for the inner city of
Bangalore, drainage management plan at the local level and a risk mitigation
plan should be drawn up and implemented."

Says A Ravindra, former Karnataka chief secretary, "Traffic has become
one of the most important issues today in Bangalore and serious action has to be
taken at the earliest before it goes out of hand. Implementation and governance
of the plan is key to its success."

The current building laws, which are openly flouted by the corporator-contractor-builder
nexus, lack the teeth to regulate earmarking of parking lots and building of new
floors to existing buildings. Says Police Commissioner Ajai Kumar Singh,
"20-storey malls should not be allowed to come up at traffic
junctions." Bangalore does not have a mall higher than the seventh floor,
but Singh's words are more of a prognostication in a city where building
bye-laws are hopelessly outdated. "Especially, where parking is concerned,
these bye-laws deserve a second look," says Singh.

The CDP's Plan has inherent disabilities, feel industry sources. They point
out that the CDP 2015 proposal to create 3.75 lakh new IT jobs could increase
the population by another 1.2 million and further stretch power and water supply
as well as road lines. The lure to encourage economic activities in Mysore,
Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad has never been so strong. Even as the blame game
continues and the industry's calls for an "enabling environment"
keep coming.

Ravi Menon