Rebuilding Bengaluru: City Commits ₹1.5 Lakh Crore to Massive Infrastructure Transformation

Bengaluru is set for a massive overhaul as the Karnataka government unveils a ₹1.5 lakh crore infrastructure plan, featuring urban tunnels, metro expansion, PRR, waste management upgrades, lake protection and improved water supply to ease congestion.

Bengaluru is preparing for one of the biggest urban transformation drives in its history, with a ₹1.5 lakh crore mega-infrastructure plan aimed at reshaping the city into a global metropolitan hub. Battling severe congestion, rapid population growth, strained public utilities, and mounting environmental challenges, the Karnataka government has placed renewed emphasis on long-term mobility solutions, improved urban governance, and sustainable infrastructure. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has submitted a detailed proposal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, outlining a vision designed to future-proof the city over the next two decades.

Massive Investment Across Key Urban Sectors

The wide-ranging proposal covers urban tunnels, elevated corridors, expanded metro connectivity, waste processing systems, lake protection, and large-scale water supply augmentation. The core objective is to ease pressure on Bengaluru’s overburdened road network while creating an integrated mobility ecosystem for more than 12 million residents.

Urban Tunnels and Elevated Corridors

Bengaluru’s former national highways, which now serve as crucial intra-city routes, have become severe choke points with average travel speeds dropping below 10 km per hour. 

To address this, the government has proposed three major projects.

• Tunnel 1: Hosur Road to Ballari Road 
• Tunnel 2: KR Puram to Mysuru Road Elevated Corridor: Kanakapura Road
• Estimated cost: ₹41,780 crore

These tunnels are expected to reduce travel time by 60 to 70 percent. Additional elevated corridors worth ₹15,000 crore have also been proposed to ensure seamless movement across major business zones.

Peripheral Ring Road to Ease Highway Congestion

The 73.5 km, eight-lane Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) aims to divert freight and inter-city traffic away from the city center.

• Total Cost: ₹27,000 crore 
• Land Acquisition: ₹21,000 crore 
• Construction: ₹6,000 crore

The project will be executed under a PPP model, with revenue generated through tolling, impact fees, and roadside commercial opportunities.

Overhaul of Solid Waste Management

Bengaluru generates nearly 6,500 metric tonnes of waste every day, far exceeding existing processing capacity. The government has proposed several improvements.

Four 100-acre integrated waste management parks Bio-CNG and composting plants Recycling units for dry waste Waste-to-energy facilities Green buffer zones and leachate treatment

The estimated cost is ₹3,200 crore, with VGF support of ₹960 crore under Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0.

Metro Rail Network Set for Major Expansion

The Namma Metro network is on track to scale up significantly:

• Phase 1: 42 km (operational)
• Phase 2: 75 km (partly operational)
• Phase 2A, 2B: 69 km (under construction)
• Phase 3: 44.65 km (sanctioned)
• Phase 3A: 37 km (DPR approved)

Five new extensions totalling 128 km are planned to link emerging suburbs and satellite towns, strengthening mass mobility.

Double-Decker Elevated Roads Along Metro Lines

Following the Yellow Line model between Silk Board and Ragigudda, the government plans double-decker elevated roads at two key stretches.

JP Nagar to Hebbal via ORR West Hosahalli to Kadabagere via Magadi Road East

Estimated cost: ₹5,916 crore

This design integrates road and metro infrastructure vertically, reducing land use while easing congestion.

Protecting Lakes While Improving Mobility

Bengaluru’s lakes are interlinked through stormwater drains, known as Raja Kaluves. To prevent encroachment and address mobility issues, the government plans:

300 km of mobility corridors along SWD buffer zones Estimated cost: ₹3,000 crore

The aim is to protect natural hydrology while improving last-mile connectivity.

Strengthening Water Supply

With water demand rising, the government has initiated:

• Cauvery Stage V (under implementation)
• Cauvery Stage VI to add 570 MLD by 2030
• Estimated cost: ₹6,939 crore.

Regional Rapid Rail Transit System (RRTS)

Inspired by the Delhi–Meerut RRTS, proposed corridors include:

• Bengaluru–Bidadi–Mysuru (145 km)
• Bengaluru–Harohalli–Kanakapura (60 km)
• Bengaluru–Tumakuru (60 km)
• Bengaluru–Airport–Chikkaballapur (64 km)
• Bengaluru–Hoskote–Kolar (65 km)

These lines aim to connect Bengaluru to key satellite zones and reduce long-distance commuter pressure.

Bengaluru’s Tunnel Road Project: India’s Costliest Intra-City Corridor

Bengaluru's flagship tunnel road, estimated at ₹17,698 crore, is set to become the most expensive intra-city transport corridor in India. Stretching 16.75 km from Silk Board to Hebbal, the fully underground expressway is designed to bypass 25 major bottlenecks and cut a 60 to 90 minute commute to 20 to 25 minutes.

Engineering Highlights

• Deep bore tunnels using high-capacity 
• TBMs Emergency exits every 500 metres 
• Ventilation shafts and active monitoring systems 
• Proposed 3 plus 3 lane configuration, although experts suggest 2 plus 2

Environmental and Heritage Concerns

The alignment passes under Lalbagh, leading to major concerns.

• Possible impact on the ancient Lalbagh Rock, estimated at 3 billion years old 
• Risks to the 16th century Kempegowda watchtower 
• Vent shafts raising pollution levels near green spaces 
• Proximity to Lalbagh Lake 
• Potential geological impact on the Dharwad craton 
• Concerns about water seepage affecting NIMHANS

Environmentalists and citizen groups argue that the DPR lacks sufficient detail on hydrology, tree impact, and geological safeguards.

Expert Panel Calls for Complete DPR Revision

A government-appointed committee led by BMRCL executive director Siddanagouda Hegaraddi flagged major gaps:

• Insufficient geotechnical and soil-test data
• No groundwater or aquifer mapping
• Missing hydraulic calculations for stormwater
• Alignment overlaps with existing metro routes
• Inflated traffic projections
• Flawed cost calculations

The panel has recommended a fresh DPR, revised alignment studies, and stronger environmental protections.

Debate: Car-Centric Design vs Public Mobility

While DK Shivakumar argues that tunnels are essential for Bengaluru’s mobility and that “people cannot be prevented from using cars,” critics disagree.

MP Tejasvi Surya stated:

• Only 12% of Bengaluru residents own cars
• Tunnel capacity: 1,600 cars/hour
• Metro capacity: 10,000–20,000 passengers/hour
• One-way tunnel commute: ₹330 vs Metro ₹50–60

Transport experts emphasise that mass transit, not high-cost tunnels, is the key to long-term decongestion.

Shivakumar maintains that the project enjoys “technical backing” and said the government will support urban rail projects if adequate funding is available.

High-flying tech hits potholes in India's Silicon Valley

According to AFP,  in India's tech capital Bengaluru, the morning "rush hour" lasts so long it devours half the workday, throttling productivity in a city often viewed as the poster child of a booming economy.

Entrepreneur RK Misra, co-founder of a multimillion-dollar start-up, avoids scheduling in-person meetings until nearly noon -- then squeezes them in before gridlock returns.

The "situation is pretty bad. And it hurts by not being able to plan your day", Misra said, describing his gruelling 16-kilometre (nine mile) commute, which can take up to two hours at peak times.

"It also discourages people from doing anything other than work, because there's no work-life balance any more."

Bengaluru, home to nearly 12 million people and state capital of Karnataka, is the "Silicon Valley" of the world's fifth biggest economy -- hosting thousands of start-ups, outsourcing firms, and global tech giants from Google to Microsoft.

Yet its flagship Outer Ring Road (ORR) business district is clogged with traffic, pocked with potholes, and often flooded during the monsoon. Water shortages plague the summer months.

The roughly 20-kilometre (12-mile) ORR corridor, lined with swanky tech parks, hosts dozens of Fortune 500 offices, and more than a million employees.

Frustration boiled over in September when Rajesh Yabaji, CEO of digital trucking logistics platform BlackBuck, announced he was moving his company out of ORR.

Yabaji said he snapped after the "average commute for my colleagues shot up to 1.5+ hours (one way)", he wrote on social media, adding that the roads were "full of potholes and dust, coupled with lowest intent to get them rectified".

Now or never

Pharma tycoon Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, founder of Biocon, chimed in.

"I had an overseas business visitor to Biocon Park who said; 'Why are the roads so bad and why is there so much garbage around? Doesn't the government want to support investment?" she wrote on social media.

Bengaluru had the world's third-slowest traffic in 2024, according to the TomTom Traffic Index -- far worse than San Francisco or London.

Manas Das, of the Outer Ring Road Companies Association, works with city authorities to resolve infrastructure woes for global tech companies.

"Companies would like to get the basics right -- and today those basics are getting compromised," Das said.

BS Prahallad, technical director of the government-backed Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited, set up to manage major projects, said an average resident needed 90-100 minutes to cover 16 kilometres.

"Something has to be done, now or never," he told AFP.

"The next step is, we will decay."

Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar wrote last month on X that "10000+ potholes" had been identified, with half fixed so far.

"Instead of tearing Bengaluru down, let's build it up -- together," he said.

"The world sees India through Bengaluru, and we owe it to our city to rise united!"

Borrowing a page from London's playbook, authorities have also decided to split the municipal corporation into five smaller bodies and set up an overarching Greater Bengaluru Authority.

Shivakumar said this move would "transform the way Bengaluru is planned and governed".

Choking on pollution

The southern Indian city was not always an overrun metropolis.

Once part of the erstwhile princely state of Mysore, it was known as "garden city" or a "pensioner's paradise".

India's software boom kicked off in the 1990s, with outsourcing companies striking gold.

Waves of investment since then from Silicon Valley companies and start-ups helped quadruple the state's software exports from 2014 to 2024 to $46 billion.

Venture capitalist TV Mohandas Pai, former chief financial officer of Indian IT giant Infosys, said the city's infrastructure was "possibly three to five years behind".

Rapid expansion clogged waterways, cut trees, and filled wetlands, straining the infrastructure, ecologist Harini Nagendra said.

"We have flooding because water has no place to go, drought because the water is not infiltrating into the ground," she said.

"People are choking on pollution, choking on the concrete -- and all the dust that comes with the construction, traffic, smog, heatwaves," she added.

Nearly half the city depends on boreholes that run dry in summer, while the rest rely on costly water trucked in -- a problem set to worsen with climate change, according to the Water, Environment, Land and Livelihoods (WELL) Labs research centre.

Pai, 67, remains optimistic.

"The future is going to be bright, but there is going to be pain," he said.

“We are suffering the pangs of growth because India knows how to handle poverty, not prosperity.”

(With inputs from AFP)