JUSP sends list of 118 roads for redevelopment under Phase II of TenderSURE

BENGALURU: Even as uninvited protestors questioned the logic behind building TenderSURE roads and alleged lack of accountability on the part of the Jana Urban Space Foundation ( JUSP), Jana chairperson Swati Ramanathan, on Wednesday, announced that she has sent a list of 118 roads from which the government will pick 50 for redevelopment under the next phase of TenderSURE.

Earlier this year, when the chief minister inaugurated St Marks Road, the first to be re-designed (there are seven under Phase 1), he announced that 50 more roads will be getting a similar facelift.

"We are not taking the call about which roads should be taken up," said Ramanathan.From the list of 118, it is left to the government to choose 50. "I have evaluated the roads in the city with a certain kind of logic and chosen those on the list by priority," she added. The roads have been identified as grids, with a set of connecting-roads in each grid ­ Brigade road, MG road, General Street and Main Guard Cross road are part of the MG road grid, while the Silk Board grid has 17th main road and Srinivagilu Main road. Majestic, Bangalore Cantonment and Indiranagar are others in the list of over 30 grids.

The type of road (arterial, subarterial or collector streets) and proximity to functioning and soon-to-function metro stations, bus terminuses and railway stations are other aspects underlying the logic.

"The government can add, delete or modify the list based on other projects, political reasons, cost limitations, etc.," she said, adding that the list includes the 216 roads identified by the city corporation for widening.

On Wednesday , members of the Forum for Urban Commons and Governance walked into the JUSP office and raised questions about how democratic the project is, considering it is led by a private organisation.

The protestors asked why it was necessary to implement such a costly project when it has not solved the problems it aimed to solve. They held that the completed roads had no cycle tracks, that footpaths were disabled-un friendly and that bus-routes had been shifted away from these roads (Cunningham road to Russell Market).

Swati said that JUSP had not assessed the roads that were completed and will not be doing so either. "There is no involvement of the local government in this project. At least, give us a commitment for a public interaction," the protestors demanded.