BDA in the dark on site count

Lands in soup

The proceeds realised by the auction and sale of sites are the major source of revenue for the Bangalore Development Authority. They also fund the infrastructure projects in the City. The BDA has planned to raise a whopping Rs 1,105 crore through auction and sale of sites to take up infrastructure projects in 2010-11 fiscal. But the big question is whether the BDA has that many plots in its possession, given the fact that it has not been able to form new layouts in the last six years.

“We do not know exactly how many sites the BDA has. The Authority is yet to conduct the land audit. But I am sure the BDA has enough sites to raise funds as mentioned in the budget,” BDA Finance Member Maheshwarappa told Deccan Herald.

Funds not realised

In 2009-10 fiscal, the BDA had miserably failed to mobilise funds through auctioning sites. It was able to mop up just Rs 25 crore as against the target of Rs 485 crore.

Consequently, it could not take up majority of the projects.

During the present financial year, the Authority has plans to take up infrastructure projects worth Rs 1,350 crore in Bangalore. They include construction of 12 grade separators, several multi-storied vehicle parking complexes, improvement of 10 important traffic routes and development of 25 tanks.

Chief Minister Yeddyurappa, who holds the finance portfolio, has announced in the State budget 2010-11 that the BDA will undertake these projects. If the BDA’s finances are any indication, not many of them will take off this year. Maheshwarappa, however, refused to comment on how the BDA plans to implement the projects if it failed to mobilise funds.

Generous allotment

Notwithstanding the lost site count, the BDA has doled out as many as 550 sites worth over Rs 1,000 crore to ‘VIPs’ under the ‘G’ category in the last five years.

BDA Member Secretary M V Vedamurthy said they neither had proper information on the location of stray sites nor a map. “The ‘G’ category beneficiaries themselves locate the stray sites with the help of engineers. We simply allot the sites that they have found, after verification,” he said.

According to official sources, about 250 recommendations for allotment of sites under ‘G’ category are still pending. In fact, the BDA had last year written to the government that it did not have stray sites left to allot under the category, sources said.

The site saga

*Plans to raise Rs 1,105 cr by auctioning sites to fund infrastructure projects by in 2010-11

*Only Rs 25 cr mopped as against the target of Rs 485 cr last year

*550 sites worth over Rs 1,000 cr allotted to ‘VIPs’ under ‘G’ category in the last five years

*250 recommendations for sites still pending