BBMP launches overhaul of 218 roads ahead of monsoon

Bengaluru: With the monsoon season just a few months away, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is gearing up for a major road overhaul. This marks the first citywide asphalting initiative by the civic body in two years.

Some residents however have raised concerns about the timing, suggesting that the BBMP should have completed the work earlier, as the upcoming rains could damage the freshly laid roads.

Overall, 218 roads will receive a new layer of asphalt. While the BBMP has typically allocated substantial funds for the city's core areas, this time, a significant portion of the budget has been reserved for the outer zones like Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli, where roads are in a poor state. The project will cover over 389 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads, with a total budget of Rs 694 crore. 

"The roads will be re-laid according to the Smart City model, and we have enlisted the help of WRI India to oversee quality," said B S Prahalad, the BBMP's engineer-in-chief. "There won’t be any formal ground-breaking ceremonies, as we plan to begin work immediately." 

The plan to asphalt 389 km of roads was first drafted in September last year, shortly after social media was flooded with images and videos of pothole-riddled roads. Faced with budget constraints, the BBMP allocated Rs 300 crore from the 2024-25 budget and planned to earmark the remaining Rs 394 crore for the fiscal year 2025-26. However, approval from the government took longer than expected.

The government finally approved the plan in November 2024, after extended discussions between the BBMP and the Urban Development Department (UDD). Some of the roads included in the plan are Suranjandas Road, Balagere Main Road, Dinnur Main Road, Bellandur Road, Kadugodi Main Road, TC Palya Main Road, Ramamurthy Nagar Main Road, Ittamadu Main Road, Hosa Road, Hulimavu-Begur Road, Ullal Upanagar Main Road, Kerekodi Main Road, Uttarahalli Main Road, among others.

This project marks the second major road initiative ever since Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar assumed the role of Bengaluru Development Minister. Last year, the BBMP launched a Rs 1,600-crore white-topping project that covers 138 km of roads, some of which are still under construction.

'Publish the road list'

Citing Section 4 of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and the August 2022 order of the Supreme Court, R Rajagopalan, convener of Bengaluru Coalition, urged the BBMP to publish the list of roads short-listed for asphalting on the official website. "There is no information of this project in the public domain," he said. He also wondered what stopped the BBMP from completing the work before Ugadi. "Given the pre-monsoon showers, it is not the right time to asphalt roads," he opined.