The never ending construction of Bengaluru

Summary

Bengaluru's infrastructure woes are explored through a critique of the city's ongoing construction and planning debacles. Despite commissioning a costly feasibility report, the local government proposes several expensive projects that overlook critical pedestrian infrastructure and public transport needs. With an inactive municipal council, the city navigates a murky governance structure, resulting in poorly designed flyovers and transport routes focused solely on vehicular movement. These missteps, coupled with a complex web of parastatal organizations, weigh heavily on the city's future, causing prolonged disruption and a deteriorating quality of life for residents. The local government is urged to rethink its approach, prioritizing sustainable, people-centric urban planning.

Highlights

• Dust and rubble dominate Bengaluru's landscape as the city remains under perpetual construction. 🚜
• Expensive projects proposed without consideration for pedestrians or public transport. 🚶‍♂️
• Kormangla and Indranagar bear the brunt of unplanned flyover constructions. 🌉
• BBMP's defunct legislative branch leaves critical city planning in the hands of unelected officials. 🏛️
• Fractured governance through numerous parastatal organizations magnifies inefficiency. 🔍
• Urgent need to reframe city planning with a focus on sustainable, long-term impact. 🌆

Key Takeaways

• Bengaluru faces a never-ending cycle of construction, prioritizing cars over people. 🚧
• A costly feasibility report ignores essential public transport and pedestrian needs. 📉
• Proposed projects may take centuries to complete and worsen city life. 🕰️
• The absence of a functioning municipal council leaves the city in uncoordinated chaos. 🤔
• Parastatals create overlapping responsibilities, complicating governance and planning. 🙃
• A serious call for sustainable urban planning is needed to rescue Bengaluru's future. 🌱

Overview

Bengaluru has become synonymous with dust and endless construction as a multitude of projects overshadow the daily life of its residents. While these infrastructure projects have cost an exorbitant amount, they fail to address critical aspects such as pedestrian pathways and public transportation, thereby cementing the city in a loop of incomplete urban fabric. The challenges are exacerbated by fragmented governance, with elected municipal leadership absentee for years. This lack of coherent direction has left the city to navigate through haphazardly proposed projects, putting at risk the quality of life for millions.

The city's urban planning narrative is heavily skewed towards accommodating vehicular movement, often at the expense of livability and the environment. Flyovers dominate the discourse, with proposals outlining expansive projects without due consideration for the spaces beneath them or the existing transport ecosystem. This oversight places an undue burden on citizens, especially those reliant on walking or public services, who find themselves navigating through poorly maintained paths amidst chaotic construction zones. This scenario is a byproduct of a defunct local government where power struggles manifest in halted elections and the governance baton is passed to temporary administrations and parastatal bodies.

In the absence of a functioning democratic framework, Bengaluru's future hinges precariously on the decisions of a few, leading to unending debates about infrastructural priorities that focus more on road expansion rather than holistic urban solutions. The call for a sustainable vision is critical, advocating for a transformation in planning principles that could redefine Bengaluru's urban identity. By cultivating participatory governance, ensuring accountability, and embracing expert input, the city could pivot from its current trajectory and aspire to serve its populace more equitably, embracing the spirit of a truly inclusive metropolitan hub.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction: Endless Construction in Bengaluru The chapter discusses the state of perpetual construction in Bengaluru as of March 2025, highlighting the city's infrastructure challenges. The landscape is described as being dominated by dust, deteriorating bus stops, rubble-covered footpaths, dug-up roads, concrete pillars, and large pipes, with frequent signage apologizing for the inconvenience caused. The narrative questions why Bengaluru, and cities in general, seem to be in a constant state of construction.
• 00:30 - 02:00: Feasibility Report and Infrastructure Issues The chapter titled 'Feasibility Report and Infrastructure Issues' discusses a recently commissioned 600-page feasibility report by BBMP, costing 5 crores. The report suggests 20 projects with an estimated expenditure of 1.6 lakh crores. In comparison, BBMP's annual budget is only 12,000 crores. Notably, none of the proposed projects or expenditures in the report address pedestrian infrastructure or public amenities.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Proposed Projects and Their Flaws The chapter, 'Proposed Projects and Their Flaws,' highlights major issues with the execution of infrastructure projects, using the Ejipura flyover as a primary example. Despite being only 2 kilometers long, the project has taken 8 years and is less than halfway completed. The feasibility report, which cost 5 crores, audaciously proposes 200 kilometers of roads, including 18 flyovers and two tunnels. At the current pace of the Ejipura project, these developments would take 800 years to complete, resulting in prolonged traffic jams, road closures, dust, and fatal accidents. The chapter underlines the inherent flaws and impracticalities in planning and implementing such large-scale projects.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Critique of Current Urban Planning The chapter titled "Critique of Current Urban Planning" contains feedback and evaluation on an urban planning proposal. It begins with a critical note on the quality of a student-like report, indicating that most teachers would not accept a submission of this standard due to typos. The chapter proceeds to discuss a proposed feasibility report focusing on a significant infrastructure project: a 27 km long flyover. This flyover is intended to connect Yashwanpura to Karpuram, passing over notable areas including Maker Circle, Funworld, Alsur Lake, and ending at Old Madras Road.
• 05:00 - 10:00: Governance and the Role of BBMP The chapter titled 'Governance and the Role of BBMP' discusses the ongoing infrastructure developments on Old Madras Road. For the past five years, efforts have been made to white-top the road, which is now nearing completion. However, the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) has proposed constructing a flyover over the newly completed road. The chapter includes extensive reports, with many pages and graphs, highlighting that the road cannot currently handle the peak hour vehicular demand. Interestingly, while vehicular capacity is thoroughly analyzed, there is a noticeable lack of information on how pedestrians and public transport users manage to navigate this infrastructure.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Urban Planning Agencies Conflicts The chapter titled 'Urban Planning Agencies Conflicts' discusses the proposed infrastructure developments involving multiple flyover designs in an urban area. These plans include sections of four-lane, six-lane, and rotary flyovers, notably at Swami Vivekanand Metro Station and Tin Factory, where a particularly complex structure is proposed with multiple layers and integration between metro lines and existing flyovers. The intricacy of these proposals highlights potential conflicts or challenges faced by urban planning agencies, emphasizing coordination required among different projects.
• 15:00 - 18:00: Need for Democratic Local Governance The chapter 'Need for Democratic Local Governance' highlights the lack of comprehensive planning in urban infrastructure projects. It uses the example of Karpuram, a project costing over 3,000 crores, to illustrate the negligence in addressing the needs of pedestrians and public transport users. The plans do not include essential details such as junction designs, bus stop placements, or pedestrian crossings, focusing instead on the movement of cars. This underscores the necessity for governance that prioritizes holistic urban planning and democratic decision-making processes.
• 18:00 - 19:30: Conclusion: Call for Better Urban Planning The conclusion emphasizes the need for improved urban planning. It highlights the negative impact of constructing the IPura flyover on Kor Mangla's environment, including the loss of valuable real estate, deforestation, and increased pollution. The chapter criticizes the focus on infrastructure that caters primarily to motorized vehicles, neglecting the needs of pedestrians and public transport users. The author calls for more inclusive planning that considers all forms of transportation and minimizes environmental and community disruption.

The never ending construction of Bengaluru Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] it's March 2025 and there's dust everywhere in Bengaluru bus stops are falling apart footpaths are covered in rubble everywhere you see dug up roads concrete pillars giant pipes and signs saying inconvenience regretted why is Bangaluru stuck in this endless cycle of construction why do our cities feel permanently [Music]
• 00:30 - 01:00 incomplete this 600page feasibility report was commissioned by BBMP at a cost of 5 crores it proposes 20 projects at an expense of 1.6 lakh crores for context BBMP's annual budget is just 12,000 crores 0% of this report or its proposed expenditure focuses on pedestrian infrastructure or public
• 01:00 - 01:30 transport ejipura flyover is barely 2 km long and it has already taken 8 years to build less than 50% of it the feasibility report proposes 200 km across 18 flyovers and two tunnels which at the Egypta rate would take us 800 years to finish 800 years of traffic jams road closures dust and fatal crashes that's not even the worst part they paid 5 crores for a report full of
• 01:30 - 02:00 typos if a student submitted this kind of report most teachers wouldn't even accept it the first project proposed in the feasibility report is a 27 km long flyover that connects Yashwanpura to Karpuram this flyover will go over Maker Circle run along Funworld via Alsur Lake and down onto Old Madras Road this proposed flyover lands onto a
• 02:00 - 02:30 stretch of Old Madras Road that has been getting white topped for the last 5 years just as it is about to be completed BBMP wants to put a flyover on top the report spends many pages and many graphs to establish that this road does not have the capacity to accommodate the current vehicular demand during peak hours this is true but there are no graphs explaining how pedestrians or public transport users navigate this
• 02:30 - 03:00 road to explain their design the report shows a few drawings this section of a four-lane flyover this one of a six lane flyover this rotary flyover at Swami Viveanand Metro station and another rotary flyover suspended between two metro lines and two existing flyovers and that's not all on top of this rotary flyover at Tin Factory they have proposed one more layer of Jalbe like flyovers this flyover from Yashwanpur to
• 03:00 - 03:30 Karpuram is expected to cost over 3,000 crores they haven't accounted for the cost of anything beneath it there's no drawing of junctions no design for bus stops no details of what will happen under these flyovers or any clarity on how people will cross the road why because this report is written from the perspective of moving cars not people [Music]
• 03:30 - 04:00 to make way for the IPura flyover Kor Mangla had to give up its most valuable real estate cut hundreds of trees and watch its main road get filled with dust cement and cars it seems they were not satisfied with this and now want to do the same thing to Indranagar but just like all other drawings in this report this one too is designed only for the thoroughfare of motorized vehicles i often travel this exact route and as a pedestrian and public transport user
• 04:00 - 04:30 there's many things that need urgent attention footpaths bus stops bus frequency and street lights are all insufficient here bbmp's report doesn't talk about any of this oneways flyovers and footover bridges will not work unless you allocate the right road space for all the other trips that need to happen apart from cars to truly decongest Bengaluru we need dense walkable and clean neighborhoods
• 04:30 - 05:00 contiguous footpaths with more street lights and reliably frequent public transport tunnel road tunnel road project tunnel road misplaced priorities you don't have roads is the tunnel road the right way to spend 15,000 crores of public money are there other projects in the city that need this money more urgently is the tunnel going to help improve quality of life for the people of the city these are questions that BBMP Bengaluru's local government elected by
• 05:00 - 05:30 the people should be asking deliberating on and considering very carefully but this local government doesn't even exist what happens if we actually let them do this bengaluru will lose at least 20 years to the ongoing cycle of dust pollution and congestion only to realize that it created more problems than it solved air quality will continue to worsen stress levels and tempers will run high on the
• 05:30 - 06:00 streets the youngest and oldest citizens will suffer the most their freedoms curtailed as they find themselves living in a city they can't navigate without a guardian in an SUV local businesses will suffer as construction disrupts access cres will be lost in revenue on top of the crores wasted on these projects these 20 proposals will not solve traffic but they will ruin the quality of life for the people of Bengaluru the government's investments
• 06:00 - 06:30 should improve the quality of life for everyone in the city not just the 7% that drives if spent on these road projects this expense isn't going to improve anything for anyone we'll be paying to make the city worse earlier this year Bengaluru Metro raised its ticket prices by 105% one of the major reasons for this hike was to help pay back loans major infrastructure
• 06:30 - 07:00 projects are funded in part by loans typically taken from public sector banks or other countries for example BWSSB owes at least 10,000 crores to Japan bmrcl took a loan of 6,500 crores to build green line and purple line the tunnel roads and flyovers from the feasibility report are estimated to cost 10 times that much of this money will be arranged for by taking loans and who is supposed to pay them back
• 07:00 - 07:30 bbmp is Bangaluru's municipal corporation the BBMP represents the third level of government in the Indian democratic system bbmp is run by a municipal council composed of elected representatives called corporators one from each ward of the city our local government is supposed to have two branches a legislative wing
• 07:30 - 08:00 that is the municipal council made up of 225 elected corporators and headed by one mayor their job is to come up with policies for the benefit of the city the second is an executive wing one municipal commissioner eight standing committees and several engineers form BBMP's executive wing they are responsible for implementing the decisions taken by the council the municipal commissioner is appointed by the state government not the people as of 2025 BBMP's legislative
• 08:00 - 08:30 wing that is the municipal council does not exist there hasn't been an election in the last 5 years so effectively no one has made any policies for Bengaluru city for the last half decade bbmp's executive apparatus is active but their work is not based on any long-term vision our democracy is ideally supposed to have three tiers of government central state and local for cities the mayor is the equivalent of the chief minister but Bengaluru has
• 08:30 - 09:00 not had a mayor in the last 5 years if we don't have a government who is running the city this guy the newly appointed administrator when a municipal council is dissolved the state can appoint an administrator to do the mayor's job till a new council is formed multiple state governments have been accused of actively delaying BBMP elections because the status quo is in their
• 09:00 - 09:30 favor this is because they select the administrator and they can make the administrator sign anything so what happens when just one guy has to run a city of 1.5 cr people just one guy to manage footpaths dry waste schools hospitals road quality and flyover design luckily it's not just one guy there are actually like 75 of
• 09:30 - 10:00 them bbmp is not the only agency responsible for urban governance in the city various municipal functions have been handed over to paristatal organizations over time paristatal meaning parallel to the state the BWSSB was created to provide formal water supply and manage sewage collection bmtc was bifocated from KSRTC in 1997 to provide bus-based transport for the Bengaluru metropolitan area
• 10:00 - 10:30 bescom was created in 2002 to handle power distribution in the city bengaluru has a massive list of paristatals with overlapping jurisdictions all trying to run the city often getting in each other's way a city master plan is a long-term blueprint that guides urban development land use infrastructure and growth a good master plan helps make things better incrementally in the long term by setting some rules build more in this
• 10:30 - 11:00 area where all the cool stuff is don't build in this area because it floods and so on in 1976 the BDA the most gangster paristatal of Bangalore was constituted to take over planning and urban development functions for the city then in 1993 the 74th constitutional amendment mandated that only locally elected government bodies should make master plans aka the BBMP and not the BDA but the amendment was incomplete it
• 11:00 - 11:30 gave BBMP the power but forgot to cancel BDAS so BDA told BBMP [Laughter] BDA last made a master plan in 2015 10 years ago because it was somewhat illegal it got somewhat cancelled so for 10 years we have not had a master plan another conflict between paristatals of Bengaluru has affected
• 11:30 - 12:00 the creation of the comprehensive mobility plan in 2007 the state government created a Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority or BMLTA a brand new paristatal specifically to make and implement a comprehensive mobility plan for the city it's 2025 now and the BMLTA still doesn't exist but somehow slightly in 2020 someone made a comprehensive mobility plan anyway DT another paristatal along with
• 12:00 - 12:30 BMRCL another paristatal made a CMP to push their own agenda kind of like if JO wrote the telecom policy for the entire country at the end the 2020 CMP was rejected and parallelly for the last 18 years Bengaluru's mobility planning has been anything but comprehensive bd8 BBMP BWSSB BMTC BESCOM DUT BMRCL all
• 12:30 - 13:00 these alphabets are noise distracting us from clearly seeing into the future when your government feels accessible you are more likely to engage with it but when local government functions are transferred to state agencies most changes must go through Vidhansa instead of your local BBMP ward office paristatals lack democratic legitimacy none of them have any elected representatives so they're not answerable to anyone and over the years
• 13:00 - 13:30 we have created so many paristatal agencies that it feels like nobody is responsible for anything we've had project after project and projects can canceling out projects for decades all of Bengaluru's infrastructure projects have only worsened commuting instead of coming up with a long-term vision first then designing projects to achieve it Bengaluru seems lost is there a method out of this
• 13:30 - 14:00 [Music] madness at least on paper there is and that paper is the constitution of India instead of so many incomplete paristatals a capable and complete local government would be much better with elected representatives a good mayor and touch points at the grassroots article 243 ZE allows for the creation of a metropolitan planning committee where at least twothirds of its members
• 14:00 - 14:30 are elected representatives from municipalities and punchiats and the remaining members are experts but the thing is nobody with power gives it up voluntarily our state governments are enjoying the status quo too much right now multiple ruling governments in the state of Karnataka have weakly come up with new excuses to delay BBMP elections if quality local governments decided on long-term policies and then
• 14:30 - 15:00 came up with cohesive projects to achieve their goals the situation on the ground would look vastly different it's not that Bengaluru's residents aren't aware of these problems we just need to shift the way we ask the question the question is not whether we need a tunnel road from Hebal to Silkboard the bigger question to ask is how much will we lose to the continued absence of a true local [Music]
• 15:00 - 15:30 government there is not a single person's name on the entire 600 pages we have no one to hold accountable for this feasibility report it is not right for so much power and money to be centralized to the state especially when it impacts our everyday lives and the lives of many future generations we need to take the power centralized with these paristatals and transfer it to the hands of the people
• 15:30 - 16:00 to bodies independent of the state in the meanwhile dear government please be more intentional as you do God's work stop creating more projects and new paristatables construction is not development projects are not policies moving cars is not mobility come up with a plan for the next 50 years and come up with a plan
• 16:00 - 16:30 for the next 6 months as well take the advice of the thousands of experts in our city who are screaming their lungs out otherwise just like brand Bengaluru our streets will remain permanently incomplete [Music]