Bangalore to Improve Its Infrastructure

Authorities in Bangalore, India's technology hub, promised to improve the city's sagging infrastructure after business leaders protested the state of the city's crowded, potholed roads, an official said Friday.

The Karnataka state government agreed to repair 19 potholed roads in Bangalore within the next few weeks, build new roads in fast-growing neighborhoods and speed up transport projects, such as expanding the bus network, said Shankaralinge Gowda, who heads the state's information technology department. Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka.


The announcement came one day after some members of the city's $6 billion software outsourcing industry and its main trade body, the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce, threatened to boycott the government-sponsored annual technology convention in November if the city's infrastructure was not improved.

The steps announced were among the demands made by the business leaders.

"With this, we hope that the issues raised by the industry over the past week have been resolved," Gowda said.

For more than two years, business leaders have complained that the city's infrastructure has not kept pace with its economic growth, and its emergence as the favorite destination for Western outsourcing.

Narrow, potholed roads are the biggest problem _ workers often arrive late for work due to traffic congestion _ but companies also have to suffer an aging bus system and frequent power outages. Karnataka, which has 60 million residents, has only one-tenth of the electricity-generating capacity of California, where about 35 million people live.

The government's latest promises seemed to have pacified the business leaders.

"Officials now appear to be action-oriented and we are very happy with the steps they have promised," said Ananth Koppar, president of BCIC.

Members of his trade body are "in a mood to reconsider their decision" to boycott "IT.in," the city's annual technology fair, and will meet over the weekend to decide whether to take part, Koppar said.

Some of their concerns have been addressed in recent months. A new international airport is being built, and land acquisition for a city rail service is set to begin. But the industry also wants quick action to improve roads.

"It is a good sign the government has made these promises, but we have to make sure they are also executed," said Mohandas Pai, chief financial officer of software exporter Infosys Technologies.