It Will Take Rs 28 Billion And 658 km Of New Stormwater Drains To Save Bengaluru From Flooding
Flooding has become a major problem for Bengaluru. The city once had a well-connected network of waterbodies and stormwater drains. But a sizeable portion of them have vanished due to illegal constructions.
In the past few years, flooding of roads and buildings have emerged as a major problem for Bengaluru. Things have become so bad for India's Silicon Valley that just a single rain can inundate parts of the city.
This is a far cry from the city, which once prided itself as the city of lakes and had a well-connected network of waterbodies and stormwater drains.
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Bengaluru's missing stormwater drains
But a sizeable portion of them has now vanished, due to rampant encroachments and illegal constructions, leaving no space for the rainwater to flow out to.
In 2022, following the repeated flooding that became a major embarrassment to the then Karnataka Government, the administration had launched an anti-encroachment drive to clear rajakaluves and other water bodies of illegal occupation.
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But, it looks like it will take much more than that to end the flooding wove of Bengaluru.
Bengaluru need a lot more stormwater drains
According to a study by global property consultancy Knight Frank, it will take as much as ?28 billion ($362.7 million) to fix Bengaluru's frequent flooding problem.
The report, titled 'Bengaluru Urban Flood', resulted from a two-month-long study based on data from IISc and other sources.
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Unsurprisingly the solution for Bengaluru's flood lies in its stormwater drainage system, which the report said is inadequate to meet the current and future needs.
Bengaluru currently has 633 stormwater drains within BBMP limits which have a length of around 842 km.
As per Knight Frank, Bengaluru will need to construct approximately 658 km of primary and secondary stormwater drains in addition to rejuvenating the existing ones.
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Population increased, stormwater drains decreased
It noted that stormwater drains that were 113.2 km in length in the Koramangala valley in the 1900s are now almost half -- 62.8 km in 2016-17. A similar reduction for the said years was seen in the stormwater drain lengths in Vrishabhavathi Valley, where 226.3km of stormwater drains were reduced to 111.7km.
Owing to the city¡¯s spatial expansion from 226 sq km in 1995 to 741 sq km in 2011 under BBMP limits, the report calls for the remodelling of the infrastructure to construct an additional 658 kilometres of major drains in the city. And it won't be a cheap exercise as Knight Frank estimates that it would cost around Rs 2,800 crore.
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Out of this, 80 per cent of the cost will be to construct new stormwater drains, while the remaining 20 per cent will be for the upkeep of existing ones.
According to its report, Bengaluru's share of built-up area ballooned to 93% in 2020 from 37% in 2002, putting "severe stress" on the natural drainage system that channelled water into the city's interconnected lakes.
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The report projected a jump in population to 18 million by 2031 from an estimated 12.3 mln in 2022. The area within city limits more than tripled in 2011 to 741 square kilometres from 1995 levels.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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