Follow Singapore: Zoho's Sridhar Vembu shares how making cars costlier by Rs 67 lakh can solve Bengaluru-like traffic woes

Highlighting the urgent need for sustainable urban planning in India, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu pointed to Singapore as a model for balancing livability and mobility. He noted that despite being one of the most advanced economies and most livable cities in the world, Singapore relies heavily on public transport and strictly limits private car ownership through its Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system—where the certificate alone can cost over SGD 100,000, excluding the vehicle price. The response was in reply to BJP MP Tejasvi Surya's post on Rs 17,780 crore project to build a 16-kilometre road tunnel under Bengaluru, aiming to reduce travel time between Bengaluru's northern and southern parts.

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I want to add that Singapore, one of the most advanced economies in the world and one of the most livable cities, relies extensively on public transport. Singapore also limits the number of private cars through the mechanism of open market trading of Certificate of Entitlement (COE) needed to own a car and the certificate costs more than Singapore $100K (and the car price is on top of that). Indian cities are far more dense than Singapore. We have to build extensive public transport to make our cities livable. It can be done.

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How did people react?
"We can build more cities and developed small cities in big cities, we have too many small cities which can be upgraded. We just need to move people from big cities to small cities and then villages," said one user.


"Sir, will it be acceptable to Indian public if something like Singapore model of private car ownership is implemented in India? May be the question to ask is, does our policy makers think about it in first place?" said another user.

What is the project?
The proposed tunnel will run from Esteem Mall in Hebbal Junction to Central Silk Board Junction in HSR Layout. According to officials, the tunnel is expected to bring down travel time from around 60 minutes to 20–25 minutes. It will be constructed using eight Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) at a depth of 30 metres.

The work will be divided into two equal phases:
Phase 1: Esteem Mall to Seshadri Road
Phase 2: Seshadri Road to Silk Board Junction

The tunnel will include two- or three-lane entry and exit points at various locations. Construction is likely to take 26 months, followed by 12 more months for civil and related work.