Gowda said Bengaluru had expanded rapidly over the past 25 years without sufficient advance planning, resulting in traffic congestion and continuing deficiencies in roads, water supply and drainage. He noted that 110 villages and seven city municipal councils were brought within Bengaluru about two decades ago, but the infrastructure deficit in these areas had not been fully resolved.
Urbanisation is now spreading beyond the GBA boundaries, with surrounding areas increasingly developing as extensions of the city. Citing estimates by experts, Gowda said Bengaluru’s urbanised area could reach 1,400–1,800 square km in the coming years, making advance planning necessary to prevent peripheral areas from facing the same problems as the existing city.
The entire Bengaluru Urban district has recently been brought under the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which is preparing a master plan for drinking water provision and the gradual creation of adequate drainage infrastructure. A separate road network has been identified across areas governed by the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) and other local development authorities.
The notified grid will connect taluk and hobli headquarters with major district roads, State highways, the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) and the Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR). It covers hundreds of existing Zilla Panchayat, Public Works Department (PWD) and State Highway roads proposed for widening, with corridors ranging from 30 metres to 90 metres instead of earlier widths of about 10 metres. Construction of the full network could take 5 to 10 years. Land within notified corridors will have to remain vacant during new layout development or house construction, and residents have been advised to check road alignments on the BMRDA website before developing property.