BBMP to spend Rs 600 crore to asphalt 392-km roads

The grant was promised by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai under the state government’s Amrut Nagarothana programme

The BBMP has drawn up an action plan to asphalt 392 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads at an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore.

The plan, scheduled to be executed this financial year, comprises 208 roads spread across 392 km from all eight zones.

While commuting in the city has been a concern due to poor quality of roads, some citizens are of the view that the BBMP — known for lack of accountability — must fix the roads under the supervision of ward committee members.

The grant of Rs 600 crore was promised by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai under the state government’s Amrut Nagarothana programme. This is in addition to the grants provided by the BBMP under its own funds.

East Zone, which falls under the city’s Central Business District, has received the biggest chunk of Rs 95 crore. Some roads identified by the BBMP are Jogupalya Road, Cambridge Road, Dinnur main road, Surjanandas Road, MG Road, Haines Road, Brigade Road, and Pottery Road.

A grant of Rs 80 crore each has been set aside for zones such as Yelahanka and RR Nagar. Some of the roads in the Yelahanka Zone are: Thanisandra main road, Bagalur main road, Kogilu main road, Bhadrappa Layout main road, and Singapura Road, among others. The roads of RR Nagar Zone are: Nagarabhavi main road, Mylasandra main road, and Hemmigepura road, to name a few.

The remaining zones have received anywhere between Rs 70 crore and Rs 35 crore. They include: Bommanahalli (Rs 70 crore), Dasarahalli (Rs 60 crore), West (Rs 50 crore), South (Rs 50 crore), Mahadevapura (Rs 50 crore), and KR Puram (Rs 35 crore). Some of the roads are Chikkabanavara main road, New BEL Road, Nandini Layout main road, Sarakki main road, Katriguppe main road, Bull Temple Road, Munnekolala main road, Gunjur Playa main road, EPIP main road, and Kanakapura main road, among others.

There is, however, no public records to verify whether any of the 208 roads continue to fall under the defect liability period or maintenance contract. Close to 95% of the works proposed in the action plan consists of resurfacing of roads, which is mere asphalting of carriageway without fixing drains or footpaths.

B S Prahlad, Chief Engineer of BBMP’s Road Infrastructure Division, said the action plan will undergo scrutiny at different levels before the works are approved by the government.

“The budget size might increase or decrease. The roads have been selected after consulting engineers and elected representatives,” he said.

Tara Krishnaswamy, co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru, urged the BBMP to involve citizens during the process of implementing the works. “Leaving the entire action plan to be executed under the supervision of engineers has not worked in the past and will never work well in the future, too. We have seen that the quality of work gets compromised and the roads will be filled with potholes in less than a year’s time. Since there is no council, citizen groups should be allowed to supervise the road work,” she said.

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