Parallel process to make master plan more implementable

Is there a way to make the roadmap for Bengaluru work with implementable goals? Can the Revised Master Plan 2031 gain from a parallel process/framework with an actionable five-year roadmap, complete with quantified goals, milestones, defined ownership and quarterly performance monitoring?

The ongoing public consultation process for RMP-2031 has raised concerns of transparency.

Citizens and experts, who have given their inputs, fear that the draft plan may remain unchanged. The third consultation meet had just one BDA member. Infosys cofounder N R Narayana Murthy had championed an alternative process to draw up a Bengaluru Blueprint for the future.

Facilitated by Jana Urban Space and Janaagraha, nine sectors were identified: Mobility, water supply and sanitation, solid waste management, power, governance, financial management, equity and inclusion, and city rejuvenation.

Over 70 residents welfare associations, 80 opinion leaders and 1,000 citizens had given their inputs for the framework. Following a series of stakeholder interviews, workshops and engagement with ministers and bureaucrats, the government had set up the Bengaluru Blueprint Action Group (BBAG) last year.

However, the BBAG has met only once so far, with no clarity yet on its role. No action plan has been articulated. Questions have been raised over the lack of political will to go ahead with the exercise.

To reactivate the process, organisations, individuals and domain experts are now being invited to prepare their sectoral blueprints based on the Bengaluru Blueprint framework.

The Comprehensive Development Plans (CDPs) and Revised Master Plans of the past had failed to regulate the city’s notoriously chaotic growth. The plans, as urban policy experts repeatedly pointed out, were poorly implemented as they had no mandate over the various agencies.

The Blueprint was an attempt to tide over these challenges. “The Blueprint envisages creating roadmaps for measurable annual milestones and assigning clear ownership for each sector and theme so that projects and reforms are implemented with timelines,” Murthy had explained.

The Blueprint, feel experts, could help in mandating that all agencies follow the Bengaluru Master Plan. This could aid the creation of a unified planning authority with representatives from the BBMP, BDA, UDD, BMRCL and BMTC, and subject-matter experts from every field to coordinate and plan city’s development.
DH News Service