Is The Bangalore Story Over?

[deepu 0]

The infrastructure problem in Bangalore has reached new levels recently..

I just saw this article on rediff and thought it will be great to get some opinions from fellow rimwebians. Also would like to know how is the situation in other metros.

Check out what two top IT executives have to say about the infrastructure situation in

Bangalore.

Subroto Bagchi

Chief Operating Officer, MindTree Consulting

As someone who thinks Bangalore is home and loves the city dearly, it is difficult to admit that the story is over. At the same time, it is difficult for anyone to deny that the infrastructure situation in the city is bursting at its seams.

Yet, infrastructure is not all about roads but clearing garbage, making sure untreated sewage does not mingle with drinking water and naked electrical wires don't kill school children.

Add to all this, the state of denial. The starting point of solving a problem is admitting that we have one. Recent statements by some imply that speaking about the civic infrastructure can lead to being labelled a "non-local". This is dangerous and must stop. We must start with not the city's infrastructure but the city's state of mind.

First, at the level of the government we have to be committed to the city and decide that this is a non-political issue. We must have a common minimum programme on which there is no compromise.

These are issues like garbage collection, sewage disposal, road repair, reliable electricity and safe drinking water. Whether or not there will be an international airport or a metro-rail, comes later.

The Bangalore experience proves there is a systemic limit to capacity building in any city. Beyond a point, trying to retrofit capacity is futile. Singapore's sewage disposal system was designed to operate at several times the amount of generation and the capacity was created such that treated sewage could be flushed into the sea at high tide! That's planning.

Now, try stuffing Bangalore with a population larger than Singapore's on top of a non-existent drainage system -- it just can not work. At some stage, efforts become not only cosmetic, they amount to putting lipstick on a pig.

The solution, therefore, is to build newer cities, decongest and admit that sooner or later, a system of control must be exercised on who can live and work where. I see no running away from a future in which odd numbered vehicles can ply on allocated three days a week and even numbered vehicles on the other three days, with Sunday being free for all.

Then comes the issue of who should fix the city infrastructure and who should run it? A lot of talk about public-private partnership makes the rounds.

At the end of the day, running cities like New York or Singapore and Shanghai is specialised, full time work. Bangalore can not be an exception.

Citizenry can participate in policy planning, understand and contribute to the political system and pay taxes right. It just cannot pretend to run the system and the system cannot abdicate its responsibility, which must be exercised with transparency and sans corruption. That requires emotional security and a long term view -- two things we do not give our elected politicians.

T V Mohandas Pai

CFO, Infosys Technologies

Bangalore is India's only global city. It exported $6.5 billion of IT services in fiscal 2005, targeted to reach $10 billion by fiscal 2007. With 250,000 people employed and growing at over 30 per cent, it is among the top two IT destinations in the world. It is a global brand, recognised all over the world, the place of choice for young Indians with possibly the best quality of life for a comparable city in India.

Bangalore's challenge is that it has grown at 11 per cent per annum over the last decade and the infrastructure has obviously not kept pace. Bangalore also has a vocal civil society that does not take bad infrastructure and an inadequate governance structure lying down.

Therefore, we have the spectacle of protests from industry and civil society. This is a common problem across urban areas all over India but magnified by rapid growth in Bangalore.

The city is not losing its pre-eminence though the high expectations of investors and stake holders is not being met. Only the lustre is diminishing a bit. Bangalore needs help -- lots of it from the state and Union governments and its own citizens.

The Bangalore Agenda Task Force was one such institutional mechanism, to create a governance structure. Its absence today is creating frustration and raising protest levels.

What is the remedy? The biggest problem is traffic. Industry has suggested a set of short and long term initiatives, all accepted by the government. These have to be implemented vigorously with the active participation of civil society. Investment is apace on the water and power fronts.

Drainage is a major concern and once again execution holds the key. The plans have been chalked out. All stakeholders know the challenges and the solutions. What is lacking is execution.

The state government derives 70 per cent of its revenues from Bangalore and needs to plough back a bit more to make the city better. If the city prospers it will generate resources and a better life for all.

For their part, Bangalore's citizens should form groups like Janagraha to identify issues and work with the government to execute projects. Industry is doing its bit but needs more from all stakeholders. This is not a fight between industry and the state government, but a call by tax payers for better performance and governance.

The bureaucracy is willing and has shown its commitment. The political leadership has to rise to the occasion and accelerate the pace of change. The situation is not desperate; but the inflection point has come. It is up to all of us to work together and make it happen.

If Bangalore succeeds then there is hope for our young people. If the doomsayers succeed, it is the last great opportunity lost for India.

Courtesy - rediff.com

[Chirag 5]

I have read abt Bangalore and its state of administration and infrastructure several times earlier. At rediff, u'll find many more such articles. Never visited Bangalore, but from wat i read, i believe it really needs a change in the mindset for something to happen.

Am not advocating here... Mumbai is no better, either!! The city has gone down the drain! trust me on that. We live here and so we know. No doubt, the number of ppl are much more here, and hence the available infrastructure seems less, ex: public transport / roads etc.

What is really needed in most metros, is more of an over all haul... rather than efforts in tits n bits. What generally is seen is that plans r drawn keeping in mind the term as next 10-20 yrs... but they dont seem to take shape till the next 10yrs in reality and then it becomes a real waste of time and most importantly, money!! In Mumbai, the best examples are the Bandra - Worli - Nariman Point Sealink, Skybuses, MUTP, MUIP, 50 flyovers... which haven't taken shape or took shape so late, that they never served their purpose at a time when it was really reqd!

Town Planning & its management is a very different kind of work and is really not the job of politicians. Every thing that they seem to be doing is keeping in mind, their votebanks... and hence its all a big waste!

What we need, is more citizen participation in the governance of our cities/towns/villages. We need more sane public opinions, rather than useless litigations, which drive the whole purpose of a project to zero.

Lets hear more from others...

[imvikky 0]

Bangalore either needs to get a release from the petty politics by our leaders...not possible till the time it is still a part of India....

Or it needs to be converted into a UT... Not possible till the time above thing does not gets going

[city02 63]

Don't get me started on Mumbai infra!

Here's an article from DNA:

Forget Shanghai!

Since its clearly impossible to attain the Shanghai dream in our lifetimes (i.e., by mid century or 2050), lets focus on a more realistic goal for our crumbling city.

The standard BSP (Bijli, Sadak, Pani) by 2025 is plenty for our apathetic politicians and corrupt civic officials.

If anyone has been to South Delhi, one can see the great, wide roads and broad side-walks which do not dissolve in the first week of rains.

The strict enforcement of noise pollution (fines for honking at red lights, timers at traffic lights) and traffic laws (fines for crossing white line at reds) helps in maintaining a  little more civilised existence on the roads.

One does not have to bribe the police just to get an FIR unlike Mumbai.

Citizens can report any violations by auto & taxi drivers via SMS to the relevant authorities with the license number.

Gutters are required on both sides of most roads and potholes are immediately repaired for the VIPs & politicians.

Trucks are banned during the daytime which has greatly reduced the jams & congestion during office rush hours.

So Mumbai's new goal should be to become as good as South Delhi in the next decade or two.

An incentive programme should be launched for all new buildings coming up.

One such proposal is a '3 for 3' plan.

If a developer/builder provides for the following 3 critical features, they are allowed an FSI of 3 (compared with foreign cities that have 10-20 FSI, this is not high at all):

1. Rainwater harvesting (individual water meters)

This is not the way its currently being implemented where a token pit of 5-10 feet is dug to comply with the letter of the law.

The goal is to use rainwater (RW) for all toilet flushing, garden/lawn watering, house & car washing/cleaning etc to reduce usage of municipality water.

One way to encourage better water conservation is by having water meters installed just like electricity meters.

If people have to pay an independent water bill every quarter, it would encourage them to cut down on consumption since it directly benefits them.

In the current system, the water supply cost is divided over all the flats as a fixed maintenance charge so individual decisions do not have any direct financial implication.

In the first phase, to ease the costs and the transition, each building in a complex should have its own water meter.

In phase 2, each floor should have separate meters.

Finally in phase 3, each residence should have a meter.

Obviously the rainwater provided should not be metered/billed!

Rooftop and underground tanks should be built to hold the excess rainwater and proper percolation pits of 5-10 m depth should be dug for the tanks overflow.

There should be at least 2-3 pits per building based on the number of flats or floors.

If for some unique reasons RW harvesting is simply not possible/practical, the spirit of the law should be followed - any means to reduce consumption of water like captive sewage treatment plants, etc.

2. Solar water heating or solar exterior lighting

The primary goal is to reduce the energy usage by about 5-10% using ANY renewable source so even wind power would suffice if solar water heating is not practical due to location constraints (e.g., being in the shadow of a larger building, etc).

Power backup must be provided for lifts and emergency lighting which may be pretty standard now but many large complexes built over a decade ago did not have this.

If existing complexes are allowed to upgrade their infrastructure, they would be allowed to avail of the same benefits.

3. Basement parking with drainage & pumps or independent servant quarters in each flat/apt

Much of the road & traffic congestion in Mumbai is due to parked cars along narrow roads and illegal encroachments/slums.

One was to reduce the number of parked cars (other than increased enforcement of parking fines/towing) is to encourage builders to provide adequate parking inside their complexes/buildings.

Each flat should get one space for a 4-wheeler and 2 spots for 2-wheelers so that any staff/visitors have place to park inside.

Any building that has sufficient space for visitor parking inside but forces them to park outside should be assessed a 'parking rental' based on either the number of flats or number of cars parked.

Basement parking could be for residents and surface parking for visitors.

The recent flooding shows the need for providing adequate drainage and water pumps in basements.

This also greatly reduces the probability of ground floor homes getting flooded (I.e., the water pours into the basements instead).

If its not possible to provide basement & visitors parking, an option should be given to provide independent servants quarters with each flat.

This would go a long way in reducing the growth of slums.

Most complexes in Mumbai do not have any provision for such quarters - partly due to the very high cost of real estate.

The few that do are poorly designed so its difficult to close off the rest of the house from the servants increasing the risks of theft/crimes.

Due to the security risk, many residents opt to not sublet their quarters to staff they do not know for many years.

Independent entrances provide security and flexibility and thus increase the chances of the quarters being an option to low income housing.

The costs of construction and maintenance of such facilities which reduce the burden on the overwhelmed municipalities should be exempt from all forms of state/local taxes/fees.

The '3 for 3' offer should be tested as a pilot for a year in a limited area which has new residential developments coming up and based on its success, be extended to adjoining suburbs for Phase 1.

Phase 2 could see the extension of a '4 for 4' FSI offer to further incent the developers.

Coming next: How BSP can help Mumbai catch up with South Delhi...

The author is the COO of a small Pvt Ltd Co doing software development.

He has lived in Andheri, Powai, and Nerul over the last 4 years.

He has worked in Bandra-Kurla Complex and Koparkhairane.

The views expressed here are entirely his own.

[vb86 0]

though im from delhi, i was there in bangalore for a full year till roughly a year back and i must say that a lot needs to be done.... Delhi seems like heaven to me if i compare it to bangalore.

[ashoksoft 83]

yeah a lot needs to be done about the condition of not just Banglore or Mumbai, in fact most of our cities need the much needed makeover, which is not quite a feasible / viable option due to the heavy population we have here!

Mumbai has been a city of dreams for many, we see people streaming here by the thousands daily, dreaming to make it big, moreover most of the city has a really rich heritage.... considering the british establishments which are in place even now.... The City planning could hardly do anything when such structures are in place.

On the other hand take Navi Mumbai, which is from Vashi towards Nerul-Belapur (I do not count Kharghar - Panvel strech, as it has been marked under raigad district). The City is completely pre-planned, in the sense that every building that is coming up was in the CIDCO plans ages ago.... The Mangrove lining and leverage system has to be applauded!

Banglore is another city, where we get to see IT professionals zooming in, but what is forgotten is that there is a inflow limit, to ensure that the existing infrastructure suffices, which surely needs a revamp....

yeah and as City02 pointed out. ... .... Shanghai is surely a dream, but hey mumbai had become a Vinece on July 26th, due to the floods -> thanks to the babu controlled infrastructure we've had!

Cheers

Ashok