Whats in store for the city - Bangalore's Comprehensive Development Plan Part 1

Here is what is planned ... by the government, the corporate think-tank and the elite for Bangalore in the near far future.

If they achieve what they plan.. it will make Bangalore at par if not better than any of the Metros of this country....

1. GIS-based property tax system in 2006 ( The new one I am happy about)

The new property tax system that is supposed to see a revenue jump of 50 percent for the State Across 57 urban local bodies (ULBs) and including seven City Municipal Councils (CMCs) and one Town Municipal Council (TMC) of Bangalore, this hitech and first-of-its-kind system in the country will be operational by December, and will be adopted for tax collection in all of Karnataka shortly.

The software for GIS is to provided by Infosys, free of cost.

What the project promises…

a. To gather authentic information for use in collection of property tax Create a map-linked database to enable systematic urban area management

b. Create a basic database that would be useful for planning the growth of urban areas Create an interface with the public to help them access information

c. Ensure availability of data for all Government Departments Create base maps of the city, incorporating all properties and roads


2. The Blue Elephant -> The Bangalore Devanahalli International Airport

The city already accounts for the third largest international flights in India after Mumbai and Delhi. Each company in the IT or the ITES sector has a high amount of foreign delegates visiting the city round the year. I recently met an American employed with Siemens who had been to to Bangalore 19 times since 2002. Equally strong are the Non -It sectors of Pharma, Banking and telecom. While there are more tourists on a visit, there are also more and Business visas for the Indian doing his quarterly trip .

The best news for this is that work on the proposed international airport at Devanahalli has FINALLY taken off after all the tree planting and the bricklaying ceremonies and it will be operational in three years. (Yeah yeah , we will see about a that) ..

Salient Features?
* Its 29 km away from Bangalore, but close to the Hyderabad highway (NH 7?)
* Initally planned to 5 million passengers per annum traffic . Ultimate capacity : 40 million !
* A 4km runway designed to land a Boeing 747.
* 20 aircraft accomodation on the Tarmac

* The Build-Own-Operate-Transfer scheme and Public Private Participation

The Karnataka Government, through the Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation (KSIIDC) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) together will hold 26 percent of the equity. To sum it up, the airport is a joint venture between Siemens Project Ventures (40 percent), Larsen and Toubro (17 percent), Zurich Airport (17 percent), Karnataka Government (13 percent), and the Centre (13 percent).The State Government has agreed to grant concessions to the
Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), the company that is to execute the
project. It is a consortium of the Government of Karnataka, Airports Authority
of India, Siemens, and Zurich Airport, to design, develop, finance, construct,
commission, maintain, operate and manage the airport. The Karnataka Government
is providing 4,300 acres of land for the airport.

* Terminal Building with an air-conditioned built-up area of 55,850 square metres with all modern facilities
* Expansion capability
* Infrastructural Support? a Couple of flyovers and elevated roads planned. A shuttle service to the city.. Not bad.
* What did the Government do?

The concession agreement for land and support from the State and Central
Governments was finalised after numerous meetings between the ministries of
Civil Aviation, Law & Justice, Finance, and the BIAL.

The agreement also contains the rights and obligations of the Central and State Governments, and the BIAL on operation and maintenance standards including monitoring, airport charges, provision of reserved activities like customs, immigration, security, liabilities and indemnities, and resolution mechanism for
disputes.

Its also reponsible for the planned infrastructure development around the airport