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Moving the capital out of Bangalore
Written By ashwin - 2 January, 2009
Infrastructure Bangalore Satellite Towns governance Decongestion suggestion capital City states
This is an idea that has been discussed before, including on this forum. I am coming from the view not of the governance structure of Bangalore (autonomy etc) which is an orthogonal issue, but of the power of such a move to take the pressure off Bangalore.
So I want to put this idea into the public domain again in the hope that if we keep talking about it, at some time we will finally do it, like our new airport and metro systems which have been discussing atleast since the 80s.
Jumping straight to the parameters for choosing the location of the new capital, I excerpt from my (rather verbose)blog on the issue:
1. It should be atleast a 100 Km from Bangalore, preferably more. Any less and there is a danger of it turning into an extended suburb (exurb) of Bangalore - a New Bangalore. That would make things much worse - people would live in Bangalore and commute to the new town, pushing up commute times. The area in between would gradually get populated, creating a sprawling urban conglomerate, a megapolis with mega problems.
2. It cannot be too far from Bangalore. At worst it should be an easy overnight journey (8hrs max), preferably less; for a simple, compelling though transient reason. During the ramp-up period, a lot of bureaucrats and other pioneers will leave their families behind in Bangalore and do a Monday to Friday commute to the new city till the social infrastructure builds up. Build it too far and the hurdles to easy adoption become very high. It will remain a bridge too far to cross.
3. It should be somewhat more centrally located than Bangalore with reference to rest of the state.
4. A reasonably equitable climate.
In the choice of the new location, there seem to be three broad options which satisfy the above criteria to varying extents.
a. Move the capital to the north of the state. Being less developed than the south, the region would benefit from the boost in investment and spending that a capital city attracts. Chief contender: Hubli-Dharwad
b. Locate it as centrally as possible so it is accessible from all parts of the state. This would suggest either Shimoga or Davengere.
c. Keep it near Bangalore so people can commute in 2-3 hours. This would impose a lower cost in the transition, besides having access to a significant international airport (BIAL). Keeping the centrality criterion in mind, Hassan is a strong candidate. It is more-or-less equidistant from Bangalore, Mysore and Mangalore, 3 of the 4 most significant population centers in the state. Climatically also, it is not too different from Mysore.
COMMENTS
mcadambi - 2 January, 2009 - 19:36
Bengaluru then can have more of it's taxes for it's development. Right now, we pay quite a bit from our share of taxes to the rest of the state. While it is welcome for crucial sectors such as education and health care and a modicum of good infrastrucutre, the rest of the cities in KA should compete on their own parameters rather than depending on Bengaluru for everything.
In Sri Lanka, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the administrative capital of that nation while Colombo is it's largest city. In South Africa, Johannesburg, tough the largest is not it's capital. Similarly with many US states such as Illinois and Texas.
Good thought. Think greenfield
silkboard - 5 January, 2009 - 19:26
Awesome idea. Yes, we have discussed it here a few times. But as you say, no harm in bringing this up again and again.
Actually, when I had met Mr Suresh Hebblikar at ABIDe launch last year, I tried my best to request him to resurrect his almost decade old suggestion of shifting the state capital. Spent about 20 mins with him on the subject, he did agree and sounded enthusiastic. I did send him a follow up email a few days after this meeting, but didn't get any response.
It would be such a brilliant move, two birds in one stone. 1) decongest Bangalore 2) kickstart growth in some not so developed region of Karnataka.
Why think of an already established city? The new capital can be a greenfield city, free of any developmental legacy, a well planned modern city to showcase the state.
mcadambi - 5 January, 2009 - 19:42
Bengaluru started witnessing massive growth after the capital was shifted from Mysore. I am sure shifting the capital out of Bengaluru will help to move attention to internal Karnataka which is largely virgin territory for Industrialisation.
idontspam - 5 January, 2009 - 19:51
We are half way there already. Get all phases of the metro up and running, put in proper feeder services (BMTC, Trams etc), introduce congestion charging in the CBD, make the city - public transport and pedestrian friendly. Connect EC, ITPL, Devanhalli, Peenya via no-signal ring road instead of thru the city and via CRS and you are done.
Tried and tested solutions are within reach and we are on our way. We may reach tipping point in 2009. Little more push is required and the authorities will 'abide' by it.
And who exactly will plan and build this new city? The same set of people who screw up the rest of the cities. Why do you think it will turn out differently? Why will people move there? What is in it for politicians to make this happen?
Srivathsa
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