The Master Plan 2015 of Bangalore, is finally out. It marks a significant departure from the earlier Master Plans or Comprehensive development plans. The preparation of the Plan was entrusted to a professional consultant. Modern technological tools were used to prepare base maps and for data processing and greater transparency was exhibited .

The Plan comprises broadly of two parts. One pertains to the vision for the future development of Bangalore and the second to the land use plan and zoning regulations. The Vision Document deals with the long term development and the strategic interventions needed to deal with the demographic, physical and economic growth of the city.

The strategies in the housing sector include moving from plotted housing to group housing for optimum utilisation of land, budget housing to meet the needs of the urban poor and encouraging private sector participation. With regard to transportation, it is proposed to develop a structured road network with an elevated core ring road and a series of outer ring roads, organising transportation and logistics facilities and developing a multi-modal public transportation system.

In respect of water and power supply, the plan has advocated measures to ensure that they are accessible to all citizens every day on a continuous basis. The urban poor are to be provided basic services including security of tenure at affordable prices. The city environment is to be improved by protecting the valleys, redevelopment of lakes and increasing the area for parks and open spaces in newly developed layouts.

The real challenge is to translate the vision into projects and programmes, mobilising the necessary resources to finance them and implementing them in a time-bound manner and enforcing the development control measures. In this process, a few issues need to be addressed.

In the first place, the concept of developing a “compact city,” does not appear to be realistic. The conurbation area or area for urban development has increased from 421 sq.kms. in 2003 to 800 sq kms and the municipal jurisdiction of the city has been extended from 225 sq kms to over 700 sq kms. The growth scenario outlined in the Plan visualises partial opening of the agricultural zone or the green belt. Thus the large green belt which had covered an area of 729 sq kms under the earlier CDP has been reduced to 419 sq kms. The population of Bangalore which stood at 5.6 million in 2001 is estimated to reach 8 million in 2011 and 10 million by 2021. The Master Plan does recognise the growth impulses beyond the metropolitan area and the future growth patterns defined by large projects such as Bangalore International Airport, IT corridor, Metro Rail, Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor, integrated townships, peripheral ring road and provides for an increase in space allocation for different activities. The already expanding urban sprawl will expand further.

The mixed land use policy adopted in the Plan, is not likely to serve its purpose viz. allowing access to commercial activities in the proximity of the residences and reducing the need for commuting across zones in the city. Reduction of work related trips presumes that people live and work in the same place.

This is no more true in the case of a large city like  Bangalore where people generally prefer to rent out their premises for commercial purposes in view of the higher rent it will fetch. Although the plan recognises that mixed use needs to be regulated in order to mitigate the adverse impact related to congestion, increased traffic and pressure on civic amenities, experience shows that such regulation hardly takes place. In fact, mixed land use is already a reality in Bangalore and the Master Plan will just help in regularising it. Certain commercial uses essential for residential neighbourhood must no doubt be permitted and the earlier CDP had also provided for such compatible uses. The new policy is bound to seriously affect the character of residential areas and the peace of neighbourhood.

The higher FAR proposed in certain areas, though well intended, is bound to exert pressure on provision of infrastructure and more so on traffic and parking space. The rampant violation of zoning and building regulations and the tendency to regularise or condone such violations is likely to distort the vision of achieving a highly livable city.

Unfortunately, law compliance on the part of the citizens as well as law enforcement on the part of the authorities are poor in our beloved city. This attitude also accounts, at least partly, to the chaos in traffic on our roads. This underlines the importance and urgency of urban governance reforms. The Master Plan has emphasised the need to redefine the roles of the major urban authorities in the Bangalore metropolitan region, especially the BBMP, BDA and BMRDA and to ensure transparent processes in the city's planning and governance. An Expert Committee has been constituted to examine these issues and its recommendations would prove crucial for the future governance of Bangalore.

City’s growth should be viewed in terms of its importance in the international context. Indeed, our vision must be to plan for a global city driven by a knowledge based economy on the one hand and ensure basic services for all sections of the society on the other.

(The writer is Deputy Chairman, State Planning Board.)