The budget provided significant outlay to improve the road and traffic situation in Bengaluru, including roads and the Metro.
Assembly Session in February 2023. (Supplied)
With civic woes in Bengaluru often landing the ruling party in trouble, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said ₹9,698 crore had been allocated for the “comprehensive development” of Karnataka’s capital city.
In his current tenure’s last budget, an interim budget for 2023-2024, Bommai made a slew of announcements for Bengaluru. Most of it revolves around improving basic civic amenities in the growing city.
Recognising Bengaluru’s contribution to India’s IT exports, Bommai said the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) would set up world-class plug-and-play industrial parks infrastructure around Bengaluru to facilitate quick start of operations by multi-national companies.
Traffic in Bengaluru. (Creative Commons)
Accidents — including deaths — caused due to potholes and bad roads, flooding in low-lying areas during monsoon, dug-up roads affecting day-to-day life and ever-growing vehicular density have been the bane of Bengaluru.
To address these issues, Bommai said several works worth ₹6,000 crore under the Amrutha Nagarothana scheme were being undertaken.
“The development of total a of 108 km of roads has been taken up under the high-density corridors scheme at an estimated cost of ₹273 crore. To ensure that there is a free flow of rainwater and to avoid flooding, ₹1,813 crore has been provided to undertake the development of a total of 195 km of drainage and culverts,” Bommai said.
A sum of ₹150 crore has been earmarked towards the development of 75 prominent traffic junctions to ease congestion, besides adopting artificial intelligence mechanisms for traffic management.
There is also a construction of a 5-km elevated road at a cost of ₹350 crore from Tin Factory to Medahalli and the integrated flyover from Yeshwanthpur Railway Station to Mathikere and BEL Road and by providing direct access has been announced for traffic de-congestion.
Namma Metro. (Creative Commons)
To address concerns about traffic, the government has also pushed alternative travel options like Metro and suburban rail.
“At present, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Scheme is operational over a network of 56 km. The works of the metro rail scheme connecting Central Silk Board Junction to Kempegowda International Airport of 58.19 km with 30 stations are under progress at a fast pace,” said Bommai.
“It is planned to operationalise 40.15 km of the route in the current year,” he added.
“The third phase of the works relating to the metro network was proposed in the previous budget. A detailed project report for two corridors of 44.65 km in length, with 31 stations, has been submitted to the Central government. The estimated cost is ₹16,328 crore for this project,” Bommai said.
A suburban railway project for Bengaluru costing ₹15,767 crore has already been approved, but the progress has been at a snail’s pace. Bommai said the first phase of the project would be completed by 2024-25.
“Grants of ₹1,350 crore from the Central government and ₹1,000 crore from the state government will be provided in the current year,” he said adding that the work order for the line between Chikkabanavara and Byappanahalli Corridor-2 Via-duct for ₹860 crore has been issued and the works have been commenced.
Here are some of the other announcements Bommai made for Bengaluru in the budget:
May 02, 2024
May 02, 2024
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May 02, 2024
