Phase 1 of Namma Metro will complete in April, and it will cover 42 km of the city. The eight-lane flyover in Okalipuram, as well as the separate underpasses, should be ready by the end of 2017. BMTC Volvos will have Wi-Fi.
Amidst excitement, celebrations and chaos, 2017 finally arrived. The optimists have made their New Year's resolution, the wanderlusts have created their bucket list of travel destinations, the workaholics have set their targets, and many of us are struggling and over-writing 7 over 6 to accommodate 2017.
Nonetheless, there is something for everyone in this new year and for the Bangaloreans this is what's in store for 2017:
1. More flyovers:
The city of is growing every day, and its traffic condition is the indication of the same. Traffic has become one of the major civic issues of the city, and more flyovers are a need of the hour.
There are a couple of flyover projects that have failed to meet their deadlines but hopefully, the construction of some of them will be complete, and they will be inaugurated for public use.
This January, the Karnataka CM is expected to inaugurate the flyover in the Kittur Rani Chennamma Circle, and by the end of this year, the eight-lane flyover in Okalipuram, as well as the separate underpasses, should be ready by the end of 2017.
2. New buses for BMTC:
From smart cards and electronic, CNG buses to CCTV cameras and Wi-Fi in BMTC buses, BMTC has many plans that are expected to make travel better and more convenient in 2017.
The transport corporation has plans to add 2658 buses in this year and to offer smart cards as a push to cashless travelling under its Intelligent Transport Solution (ITS). The corporation will also buy electronic and CNG buses to reduce air pollution in the city. Also, Volvos will have Wi-Fi, and for women safety, there will be CCTVs in buses.
3. Namma Metro to extend:
This year, the Phase 1 of Namma Metro will complete in April, and it will cover 42 km of the city. Phase 2 of the construction is also seeing a rapid progression, and it is expected to meet its deadline in 2020.
Once the phase 1 of the Namma Metro is completed and made operational, the ridership is likely to increase to 5 lakh every day from the current 1.8 lakh.
4. Better Policing:
The city got its new Police Commissioner, Praveen Sood and he has already stated that he will be emphasising on citizen-centric policing. Rising morale will be his priority, and safety of women, children and senior citizens will be his concern.
Ensuring smoother traffic, adopting technology to ensure that policing is less intrusive are some of the agenda the new Commissioner has for the city.
So, we can look forward to a better and safer city in 2017.
5. Water and Bengaluru:
The primary work of Cauvery Water Supply Stage V Scheme will finish this year, and that means once this project is complete a supply of an additional 775 millions litres of water every day for the new areas falling under BBMP.
At present, this project is waiting for the funding clearance from Japan International Cooperation Agency which is expected to come by April. The construction work is likely to begin next year and finish in 2021.
6. Demolition drive:
Last year, the city witnessed floods caused by encroachment of storm water drains. Soon after this demolition drive was initiated by BBMP. This year too, the will continue, and the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has ordered the civic engineers to clean up the encroachments before February.
This means we can hope that the city does not witness any more flood this Monsoon.
