Mint Explainer: How big an investment does Bengaluru need to fix its plumbing?

storm drains need repair

In its report, Knight Frank suggested that Bangor needed a master plan for stormwater drainage (SWD) and alternative flood control techniques. It states that the city needs construction of about 658 km of drains. It also requires repair and rehabilitation of about 840 km of existing storm water drains.

The estimated capital expenditure for this would be approx. 2,800 crore, it said. This includes construction of additional 658 km of drains at a cost of Rs. from 2 crores 2.50 crore per km, for cleaning and repairing of existing drains approx. from 65 lakhs 67 lakh per km, and another from 300 crores 400 crore for the improvement and maintenance of the city’s lakes.

In the city’s SWD system, primary and secondary drains are interconnected, which help transfer excess rainwater from one lake to another. However, increased construction has disrupted this interconnection between the lakes, reducing the length of the drains.

“The civic body (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) storm water drainage improvement program budget 3,000 crores. The need of the hour is to tackle the problem of storm water drainage in a comprehensive manner. Clearly, [the problem] There has been a lack of capacity and will within the government to implement it in a focused manner. The entire planning and implementation should take about three years, and should be carried out by a professional engineering consulting firm. We have also suggested value-capture financing to incentivize the government and other stakeholders,” said Rajeev Vijay, executive director, government and infrastructure advisory, Knight Frank India.

value-capture financing

When the government invests in infrastructure, there is usually value accretion to the plots surrounding the parcel, among other benefits. According to Knight Frank, the government can then say that if the infrastructure is better due to public investment, and as a result the property value increases, it wants to claim some of this value from the beneficiaries.

The VCF route may have different instruments, such as land use change charges, land-value tax, betterment charges, development charges, transfer of development rights, floor space index and floor area ratio premium, vacant land Zoning exemptions for taxes, tax increment financing, and land acquisition.

impact on real estate

Due to the huge influx of people, the share of Bengaluru’s built-up area increased from 37.4% in 2002 to 93.3% in 2020. As a result of rapid and unplanned development, the city’s infrastructure has come under severe strain.

The real estate sector has had a significant multiplier effect on the economy of Bengaluru. Knight Frank says the city’s real estate development includes about 213 million sq ft of Grade A office space, which has created around 1.7 million white-collar jobs since 2008, mainly in the IT/ITeS sector.

However, last year’s floods underlined the unholy nexus between land aggregators, the government and property developers. Builders and IT firms have been accused of having constructed above the SWD and buffer zone, due to which the primary and secondary drains of Rajkaluve have been diverted or encroached upon. Rajakaluves or canals allow rain water to flow into the SWD. Clearly, Bengaluru needs rational real estate development that does not further damage the city’s ecosystem and infrastructure.

What are other possible solutions?

Knight Frank has also recommended that Bengaluru adopt nature-based solutions such as the development of a ‘sponge city’. ‘Sponge City’ is a new urban construction model for flood management that is being implemented in China to strengthen the ecological and drainage system. It looks to tackle surface-water flooding and similar urban water-management issues, including urban runoff, water conservation and attenuation of peak runoff.

Updated: June 01, 2023, 04:11 PM IST