Bengaluru, the capital of India’s southern Karnataka, is also known as the country’s IT capital and is considered India’s Silicon Valley.
Global IT giants are attracted to invest in the city, and many have offices there.
The IT success means it has a sizable economic contribution, boasting a GDP of $110 billion, accounting for 87% of the Karnataka state’s total GDP.
Bengaluru is also a smart city in terms of technology and infrastructure.
The city’s growth was praised a decade ago, but its current situation tells of a success story gone wrong.
Sadly, its rapid growth in information technology disregarded prudent urban planning. The city is now synonymous with traffic, and the rains amplify its poor infrastructure to the next level.
The Times of India says that while the city makes waves on the tech front, it also embodies crazy gridlocks and chaos on the road. It floods, and its streets are ridden with potholes and garbage, placing the city’s infrastructure under severe stress.
The city’s continuous excavation and construction are also messy and chaotic, which seems to display an obsession with development at all costs – at the expense of human lives, environmental degradation, or public inconvenience, the article notes.
Bengaluru’s crumbling infrastructure is causing millions in productivity loss. Traffic jams could keep employees stuck for several hours, costing IT companies millions in just a single day.
According to the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA), an industry body representing all major IT and banking companies on the stretch of the Outer Ring Road, traffic congestion on August 30, 2022, cost IT companies in the city over $28 million in losses.
The city’s inadequate infrastructure drove the industry body to pen a letter to the state chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai, expressing severe concerns about the state’s lack of focus in fixing the state’s “appalling” infrastructure condition (Naik, 2022).
The association says the city’s inadequate infrastructure has reached a crisis level. Some IT companies have already implemented business continuity plans, including working from home and transferring critical work outside the city.
The industry body also called for the roadmap to improve infrastructure and urged the government to engage with them regularly and transparently regarding the plan and its progress.
The government is not solely to blame for Bengaluru’s crumbling infrastructure as it is also mainly due to the cavalier attitude of the public, The Times of India says.
According to the article, Bengaluru has become an example of bad urban planning and should serve as a lesson for town planners, developers, and builders.
While the government is good at announcing infrastructure projects and commencing them, they face severe challenges when providing a coherent timetable and finishing the project. Government silos also plague the system with differing purposes and lack accountability.
However, the city should not be singly blamed for its many problems. It requires proper planning and effective coordination mechanisms between the various agencies to achieve a common goal – solving the city’s crumbling infrastructure.
Sources:
Kaggere, N. (2023 January 13). Infrastructure stress, traffic, bad roads ruining Brand Bengaluru: Experts. The Times of India. Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/infrastructure-stress-traffic-bad-roads-ruining-brand-bengaluru-experts/articleshow/96951573.cms
Naik, A. (2022, September 7). Bengaluru Crumbling Infrastructure Makes IT Companies Cry. AIM. Retrieved from https://analyticsindiamag.com/bengaluru-crumbling-infrastructure-makes-it-companies-cry/
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