Over Rs 5,000 crore bonanza for Bangalore infrastructure

March 08, 2010

With an eye to the upcoming local body elections in the city, Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa announced that Rs 5,325 crore would be spent on various infrastructure projects in this tech hub during the 2010-11 fiscal.

“For the infrastructure development of Bangalore, the state government will spend a total of Rs 5,325 crore to improve city roads and footpaths, construction of fly-overs, service roads, over/under bridges, water tanks, 10 multi-storey vehicle parking centres and on the ongoing metro rail project,” Yeddyurappa said during his Budget presentation.

Noting that about Rs 6,000 crore had been spent on the city's infrastructure during the last two years, the chief minister told the legislative assembly that the state government would invest a whopping Rs 18,872 crore over the next three years to improve the transport system by completing the Metro rail project, launching a mono rail and providing drinking water and drainage facility to new areas.

“The state government is prepared to share 50 per cent of the capital required to operate local trains in the city with the central government through the railway ministry by connecting the various stations catering to long-distance trains and building new stations to provide faster and hassle-free travel for the people,” Yeddyurappa told the members.

The budget has allocated Rs 600 crore as the state's share of the Metro project, which is in addition to Rs 1,600 crore spent over the last two years in the form of capital and loan. With 34 per cent of the people in the state living in cities and the urban-rural ratio widening every year, the chief minister said there was a need to formulate a systematic plan for providing infrastructure facilities in urban areas.

The budget proposes to spend Rs 600 crore to improve civic amenities in towns and cities across the state under the 'Mukhyamanthri Nagarothana Yojane’.