The Hindu Business Line : BDA to construct `high-tech' residential layout

BANGALORE will get a brand new layout from BDA (Bangalore Development Authority) consisting of about 50,000 housing sites and which will have its own railway station, a helipad, colleges and hospitals.

"It will be a high-tech layout, using the very best in technology and will be complete in all respects," the BDA commissioner, Mr M.N. Vidyashankar, told Business Line. Mr Vidyashankar said the new layout will act as a counter-magnet and will aim at decongesting the central business district of Bangalore. Bangalore administrators' earlier attempt to decongest the city by setting up a satellite township turned out to be a failure as most of the residents there were forced to come into the city as the township did not have facilities such as a railway station, or even speciality hospitals.

Mr Vidyashankar did not specify the location of the new layout. The application for allotment of sites in the new layout will be announced soon after allotment of sites at Arakavathi Layout. Work on the new layout was expected to start in February this year but was delayed because of legal problems had held back the allotment of sites at Arkavathi layout.

He said during the current fiscal (2005-06), a total of Rs 3,600 crore will be spent on developing infrastructure in the city. A year ago, the budgeted target was Rs 1,200 crore. Some of the new projects that will be taken up during the current fiscal are, a six-lane highway connecting Sarjapur and the Electronic City and completion of peripheral roads.

Mr Vidyashankar said the BDA was expected to end the last fiscal (2004-05) with revenues of about Rs 908 crore. In 2003-04, the revenue was around Rs 547 crore. There was also a surplus of about Rs 124 crore compared with Rs 4 crore in 2003-04.

During the last six months, around 96 acres of land had been taken back from illegal occupants who had constructed unauthorised buildings.

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