A new city on a par with Andhra Pradesh's proposed capital Amaravathi will come up near Kolar Gold Fields, 96 km from Bengaluru.

Addressing reporters on Tuesday, Minister for Information and Urban Development Roshan Baig said the proposed town would come up on 11,000 acres of land belonging to the Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML).

According to him, the idea is to decongest Bengaluru by inhabiting about 20 lakh people from the city to the proposed township.

He said the Government of India has handed over 12,000 acres of land belonging to the BGML. There is a litigation pertaining to about 1,000 acres, excluding which the new city will be developed, he added.

“We will develop this city on public private partnership. We will float tenders inviting international consultants,” the minister said.

Baig said there is already a rail road network up to Bangarpet, two golf courses, two helipads and 140 bungalows of British era. Using the available infrastructure, the new city would be developed.

Regarding water requirement for the new city, he said such shortcomings would not come on the way of the government’s plan.

He said the government intends to set up desalination plants in Mangaluru and pump potable water to the Yettinahole project.

“There are successful models of desalination plants in Tamil Nadu where the drinking water is supplied to Chennai and other parts of the state. We need not have to spend money as there are companies ready to do it at a very low cost,” Baig said.
The government has assigned IDE Technologies to conduct the feasibility test with Wabag Limited, the minister said.

More satellite towns
The minister told reporters that a few more satellite towns have been planned around Bengaluru to decongest the city.

These satellite towns would be developed at Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Nelamangala and Dobbspet.

“Rs 2,800 crore will be required to develop Devanahalli Satellite Town. Already Rs 400 crore has been earmarked for it,” Baig said.