Big projects not sustainable, just a way to gobble up public money

Does Bengaluru need this network of elevated corridors? Do Bengalureans foresee a drastic decongestion of the city roads once these flyovers take shape? DH Pointblank spoke to residents across the city and motorists to gauge the public mood about a massive infrastructure project that will affect everyone.

Dileep Gowda, an accounts officer at a manufacturing firm, finds the project politically motivated. The government, he says, is hurriedly implementing these big projects to gobble up as much money as possible prior to the 2018 elections.

The intention is not to develop the city. “Why can’t the government develop the Namma Metro and widen the existing roads? The government should finish the projects already initiated rather than starting new ones. If it is so concerned about traffic congestion, it should encourage the public to commute by public transport,” he reasons.

Gowda’s recipe for a better city commute: Cyclists and pedestrian-friendly tracks along the roads, and speeding up pending construction tasks of the existing Metro services. These, he says, are far easier than the mega projects such as the elevated corridor.

More roads will only encouarge more traffic in the city, notes Swaroop, a degree student from the Bishop Cotton Women’s Christian College. This, she says, is a big budget project and some experts are even terming it as the second costliest infrastructure project in Bengaluru, after Namma Metro.

But her question is this: How will this mega project facilitate public or mass transport? “More roads and flyovers simply mean more cars and more traffic. Lakhs of vehicles will be added in the next few years. Is the government prepared to handle this? These elevated expressways are going to get congested in no time. The government just wants to clear the traffic jams, but little does it know that the traffic will be shifted to another place.”

Is the solution to keep building more of such elevated expressways? Instead, she says, the government must spend on improving the BMTC services or expand Namma Metro. “We want a sustainable solution. If people in Delhi can accept odd-even, then why not Bengaluru?” she wonders.

Pratap Chauhan, a businessman, says he was apalled to know that the government had initiated the elevated corridor project despite foreseeing its consequences. “Five elevated roads around the city? This government seems so determined to choke Bengaluru. These are the times when every citizen is talking about reducing traffic on roads, which in direct sense means cutting down the number of vehicles. But the government is going on announcing projects like steel flyover and elevated roads which would put more burden on the general public as well as the environment,”he says.

His specific grouse: “I regularly commute towards Tumakuru and the Nelamangala expressway is many a times choked over the weekends. Now, why would I pay toll and spend my time in jams? It is going to be a huge waste of public money.” Infrastructural development is a prerequisite for better commute through Bengaluru. But when considering and praising all the pros of such advancements, the government also needs to be cautious of its cons in the long run.

The impact the elevated corridor project could cause to the environment and the ecosystem would be disastrous, points out Rathiesh Mohan, a motorist. Land acquisition would lead to felling of trees followed by other several ecological imbalances.

“Considering the estimated cost, duration, beginning of soil testing for the project even without inviting public opinion, it seems the government is up for another scam. The decision on this project should be revised,” he says. Rathiesh, who is back in the city after four years, feels a drastic change in the climatic conditions here. The greenery has been reduced to a great extent. This is not a good sign, he says. 

Copying the structural advancements of developed nations is good. But blind implementation without understanding our environment and ecology is a very immature and foolish decision. First of all, let the width of the existing roads be increased, renovated, repaired and maintained, he suggests.