[sustran] 3, 821 trees to be cut for Bangalore elevated corridor project

[Vinay Baindur]

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/3821-trees-to-be-cut-for-elevated-corridor-project/article25023418.ece



3,821 trees to be cut for elevated corridor project
<https://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/K.V.-Aditya-Bharadwaj-846/>K.V.
Aditya Bharadwaj
<https://www.thehindu.com/profile/author/K.V.-Aditya-Bharadwaj-846/>
BENGALURU, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018 01:37 IST
UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 24, 2018 01:37 IST

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Roads and Rails <https://www.thehindu.com/topic/Roads_and_Rails/>
No proposal for translocating them

A total of 3,281 trees will have to be felled and 2,084 trees pruned to
build a network of elevated corridors that will span the length and breadth
of the city.

The Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL), which is
implementing the project, has submitted its application for Environment
Impact Assessment (EIA) Study to the State-level Environment Impact
Assessment Authority, Karnataka. However, it makes no mention of
translocating the trees, which KRDCL officials had claimed would be carried
out.

In its application, the road development corporation argues that the
elevated corridor project may possibly be considered as a construction
project equal to more than 20,000 sq. m and qualify for an environment
clearance.

At the same time, it also makes note of the fact that elevated corridors
are not mentioned in the list of projects qualifying for environmental
clearance as per the EIA notification.

It puts forth the same argument the State government had unsuccessfully
made in an attempt to exclude the now-scrapped steel flyover project on
Ballari Road from getting an environment clearance in 2016: parts of the
proposed elevated corridor are national and State highways and hence the
project can be classified as a highway. However, the National Green
Tribunal had struck down the argument made for the steel flyover case in
2017.

[image: 3,821 trees to be cut for elevated corridor project]

Project cost pegged at ₹19,265 crore

The State Budget pegged the cost of the network of elevated corridors at
₹15,285 crore and set aside ₹1,000 crore for this fiscal. However, the
detailed feasibility report (DFR) — now in public domain — pegs the cost of
the project at ₹19,265 crore. This excludes the cost of acquisition of
nearly 140.57 acres of prime real estate and 1,130 buildings, a majority of
them commercial structures.

Acquiring the land will be a hurdle: the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
(BBMP), for instance, has not been able to widen a single road in over a
decade as no landowner has accepted Transferable Development Rights (TDR)
for compensation. Bangalore
<https://www.thehindu.com/tag/145-144-81/bangalore/?utm=bodytag>Metro Rail
Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) pays cash compensation for the land acquired for
the Namma Metro project.

The feasibility report suggests the hybrid annuity model, where the
government will make annual payments across the concession period of 15
years and monetise other sources of revenues, including user fees and real
estate.

The elevated corridor will be tolled and the toll rates assumed for
viability in 2016 were ₹1.62 per km for two-wheelers, ₹4.80 per km for cars
and ₹12.97 per km for buses. The cost of land acquisition is out of the
hybrid annuity model and the DFR is silent on this cost, not even
accounting for it in an economic viability study.

An exit/entry ramp every 1.5 km

The 89.66-km-long network of elevated corridors will have an entry/exit
ramp every 1.5 km. A total of 58 ramps are proposed. These entry/exit ramps
will effectively take away a lane for through traffic at every kilometre
and also ruin the space below at grade, making the roads a large maze, said
V. Ravichandar, former member of the BBMP Restructuring Committee.

‘Government should try public mass transport’

The Karnataka Road Development Corporation’s step to get environmental
clearance for the elevated corridor project has caught those opposing the
project unawares as they were promised wide-ranging public consultations by
the government.

“We met the Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister G.
Parameshwara recently, and he had assured us that the project would be
taken up only after public consultations,” said Srinivas Alavilli of
Citizens for Bengaluru that emerged out of the Steel Flyover Beda campaign.
He said even if public consultations were held as part of the process of
getting environmental clearance, its scope will be limited to the
environment impact of the project. “We appeal to the government to try
public mass transport. Concrete *beda*, public transport* beku*,” he said.