WRI India Convenes Bangalore Officials to Manage Urban Expansion Challenges
Photo Credit: Francesco Crippa/Flickr
WRI India and V Ravichandar, the Chairman and Managing Director of Feedback Business Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd., hosted a meeting with Bangalore city officials Karnataka Chief Minister, S Siddaramiah, and Minister for Bangalore Development and Town Planning, KJ George on November 17th, 2015. The forum, held in Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore convened local decision makers to discuss strategies for addressing the urban mobility challenges faced by the city. To provide insight and recommendations, attendees included commissioners and representatives from Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA), Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Bangalore Traffic Police and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), among others.
WRI India Sustainable Cities staff, Rejeet Mathews, Pawan Mulukutla and Suryaprakash V with Karnataka Chief Minister, S Siddaramiah and Minister for Bangalore Development and Town Planning, KJ George at Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore.
Earlier in the week, Ani Dasgupta, Global Director of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, met with KJ George to reiterate our commitment to working with the city of Bangalore on improving infrastructure and development.
These meetings with Bangalore’s officials come at a critical time for the city. Because Bangalore’s master plan is currently under revision, new strategic projects are expected to be identified and implemented to tackle the city’s problems with congestion, land development and transport. These suggestions are poised to play a role in how these projects development.
Key Points of Intervention for Bangalore
The discussions homed in on strategic interventions that could resolve key challenges facing Bangalore in three main areas: land use, transport and accessibility. Below are some of the officials’ suggestions:
- Use land readjustment as a tool to complete Bangalore’s peripheral ring road
- Implement macro- and micro-master plans—as well as village development plans—for rapidly growing areas around the Bangalore airport
- Design a bus rapid transit (BRT) system to solve traffic congestion on the outer ring road
- Complete street networks and improve public transport access to solve the challenges in Whitefield, a suburb in Bangalore
As these ideas make clear, there is an urgent need in Bangalore to do away with outdated land-use regulations and facilitate smart growth through strategic spatial planning.
Ani Dasgupta, Global Director, WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities and V Ravichandar speak with KJ George, Minister for Bangalore Development and Town Planning.