LET’S PREPARE

For

THE “SAD DEMISE” OF

BDA LAYOUTS

(Dated today and the future)

 

By

Vishnu.S.Jarugumilli

9845077374

http://crorepatihomes.net

 

This article is part of First Capital’s macro view series on Bangalore realty which appears on this site from time to time.

 

There is a new species in the Bangalore property zoo and it is called “Gated communities” in Bangalore slang. These can be high end apartment complexes, Villas and Row houses or pure plotted layouts. These are bounded on all sides, entry is restricted to only members or their esteemed guests and once you enter these premises you are made to believe that India is not so underdeveloped after all.

 

The well to do sections of the society are embracing these gated layouts with enormous speed and builders and developers are only too eager to cater to this opportunity. But before we look at the possible fallout of this new trend, let us understand as to why this is happening in the first place.

 

1)      From 5 lacs in 1995 to 10 lacs in 2000 to around 30 lacs now. These are Bangalore’s vehicle population figures. It is expected to be around 42 lacs by 2010-2011. Consequently, quietness and peace in areas, known earlier as Bangalore’s best – Jayanagar, Koramangala, Indiranagar etc has been shattered. You can’t stay in any BDA layout today without the noise/air pollution.

2)      During the last decade, BDA and KIADB were working in opposite directions, literally and geographically. When KIADB was busy doing the EPIP zone in Whitefield, BDA was busy making Anjanapura and Banashankari 6th stage. Expectedly, private developers came up with new property concepts (which were certainly more appealing) to cater to the neo-rich and also closer to their place of work.

3)      Existing BDA layouts saw rampant commercialization. Your neighborhood can be a shop for anybody from a tea-vendor to a ladies tailor or worse still a scooter mechanic.

4)      Nuclear families living in BDA layouts are worried about the safety of their children. The dangers are many. It can be speeding vehicles, petty criminals or plain street dogs. And playing on the streets, a very natural thing for all Indian children, is now a thing of past.  

 

Hence it is not surprising that many people are flocking to the Gated communities particularly if they are closer to their workplace. But there are some very serious ramifications of this trend. It can be any/all of the following.

 

1)      For all their ills, BDA layouts are at least inclusive. You have sites in all dimensions like 20*30, 30*40, and 40*60, till 100*100 or more in the same locality. Considering that a 100*100 site is 8 times more expensive than a 30*40, you still have people of great economic variance living in the same area. Gated communities do not allow for this inclusivity.

2)      We all know that we already have a burning problem of social inequalities at hand after the knowledge-workers syndrome in India. The new trend will add a lot more to the fire.

3)      Bangalore has another peculiar problem on hand. All new workplaces and all these Gated developments are happening only in the suburbs there by slowly changing the axis of the city. This will greatly reduce the future value perception of the present BDA layouts all of which are far away from the centre of any economic action - including the upcoming airport.

4)      Except for Arkavathy layout, which anyway is mired in all kinds of legal tangles, there are no new BDA layouts on the offing. This has left the field open to private developers who will only develop more and more gated layouts.

5)      Worse still in the next 5-7 years, as the neo-rich flock to the gated layouts, the reduced value perception of the present BDA layouts will completely change both the way they look and also the profile of the residents. The messy METRO (during the not so short duration of 4-5 years of its construction) will also ensure that well healed sections of the society will run away from these areas.

 

You need just plain common sense to understand what this will mean in future, to a Rs 8000/- per sft koramangala site or a Rs 6000/- per sft JP nagar site or other equally expensive BDA layouts.

 

That is the SAD DEMISE of the BDA layouts we are talking about. Sad, because, for 30-40 years BDA layouts in Bangalore have provided wonderful residential accommodation in our city which was unparalleled anywhere in India. They were the indirect drivers of Bangalore’s impressive growth story. But now with the changing times they can’t escape being crushed under the same WHEELS OF GROWTH they oiled for decades.