Hudco Signs Mou For Flyovers In Bangalore

Hudco and Bangalore City Corporation signed an MoU yesterday for a total of Rs 330 crore for building fly overs and for various other projects for development of the city.

City Commissioner K Jairaj told Business Standard that out of the Rs 330 crore, a total of Rs 120 crore would go towards building new flyovers in the city, Rs 100 crore for housing and providing basic sanitation and water to the slums. The rest will go towards development of areas in the outer city limits.

Jairaj said the amount would also be utilised for linking northern part of the city with the south through a corridor consisting of a network of fly overs.

 

This is part of BCC's effort to control and regulate heavy traffic in the city's congested areas. "We will build three new fly over systems and the work on these projects will be on in the coming months. Other than that the BMP will upgrade 160 existing motorable roads," Jairaj said.

"We also aim to give people below the poverty line living in unhygenic surroundings basic facilities such as water and sanitation, to help them living a better life ."

In November 1999, a 15 point economic agenda was drawn by the state government to restore public faith in the city corporation and to plan out forthcoming activities. One of these was to "identify fast track projects in infrastructure to ensure special focus and set up a Project Monitoring Cell or ministry to focus on implementation of existing projects".

A task force comprising internal and external members would also be formed that would ensure that these projects are not delayed and would recommend specific initiatives by the government in these core areas.

There are plans to create a Karnataka Investment Promotion Bureau to market the state's potential among domestic and international investors.

Last year, the city's leading corporates and seven civic stake holders came together under the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) umbrella to pledge their commitment to a time-bound, result oriented goal of making Bangalore India's dream city by 2004-2005.

The Bangalore City Corporation, Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Bangalore City Police, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation, and Bangalore Telecom set out clearly defined short and long term goals that would transform the city into the best in India in the next five years.

For a long time the state government has been blamed for not providing infrastructure that could bring fresh investments to Bangalore city and, thereby, losing the initiative to the neighbouring states. With fresh funds at its disposal, this is the right time for BCC to set its scores right.