These days, when facing opposition over satellite town SEZ plans from Congress(I), HDK frequently refers to the "Rs 10/acre/year" giveaway offered to NICE for BMIC project. And the funny thing is that it was HDK's father Mr Deve Gowda who signed the MoU for this project back in 1995 (Source - NICE page. Does anyone know if he was a signatory to the Rs 10/acre/year deal as well?)
Yep, the project has been controversial. Surf around on the web and you find a mix of negative voices (ESG, Indiatogether) and some positive notes though far (BusinessWeek, Sep 2005 - what do they know!?) and few (Indian Express, Oct 2005). Not knowledgeable enough yet to take a side myself, but I notice that this project might be losing a bit of its relevance.
Notice these recent developments that may or may not have been planned with NICE-snubbing in mind :
1) A key objective of the project was to decongest Bangalore. With the new SEZs and BMRDA townships in adjoining towns, and grand plans for peripheral ring roads, that objective might not require a successful BMIC any more.2) SH17 to Mysore is getting to be in real good shape. 4 laned road looks pretty good right now, 6 laning and a few town bypasses are on the cards.
3) Bangalore Mysore Railway track doubling work is already on.
To those who see BMIC as a mere connectivity project (I don't), point #2 and #3 should be it. For the rest who see this as a larger decongestion plan, point #1 is the relevant one. Either way, with competition on transportation as well as remote township fronts, you wonder if the project has taken a hit on its financial viability now.
May be this was the risk Mr Kheney took when he bargained himself that "Rs 10/acre/year" reward :)
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some counterpoints...
partly agree
About 6-lane road - those 2 new lanes are service lanes on either side, but they make a big difference as far as segregating wrong-side drivers and jaywalkers from fast traffic is concerned. If they do bypass a few cities on the way, a 6 lane road wont be that bad. If they do BDA's PRR, Mono tracks around Mysore road as planned, satellite bus terminal near SH17 entry to the city, and if rail double track happens, public transport driven connectivity will be a lot better than what it is today.
But yes, unless we are talking a super well connected system of commuter buses and trains - staying far from the city or Electronics City and commuting everyday - that model would be better possible and successful in spreading out middle-class workers South of Bangalore with a world class expressway.
Beyond phase A (expressway till Bidadi + the peripheral road + Link road) the project doesn't have as much relevance to Bangalore. It probably is more relevant for Mysore, but good connectivity till there should help industries expand out to Mysore. Live near Mysore and work in Ramangaram or Bidadi with a 60-70 km commute (45 minutes?), or vice versa - aren't those some possibilities?
True, NICE has been very opaque in its methods. The thing is, BMIC as the project concept is liked by plenty of folks (myself included), but the execution terms (land lease rate, real land requirements) and executing party (NICE) don't excite many.
the bigger good
But all is not so simple...
TS, I think there is a need
BMIC means a lot to Mysore than Bangalore
Two Sides To A Coin