The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike is seeking funds amounting to ₹10,000 crore from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for various projects including the white topping of around 150 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads, the development of 25 km of roads as per TenderSURE norms and the improvement of critical Goraguntepalya Junction, Hebbal Junction, Silk Board Junction and K.R. Puram Junction.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad on Wednesday said officials from the financial institution were in the city and that the civic body would make a detailed presentation on various infrastructure projects in the pipeline.
“These are the big ticket infrastructure projects that have already been given a green signal from the state government. The civic body will have to borrow from financial institutions to take up these projects and bridge the infrastructure gap in the city,” he said.
However, civic activists are objecting to the BBMP borrowing heavily from foreign investment institutions. B.M. Veeresh from RTI Study Centre said he would write to the union and State governments soon urging them to disallow the BBMP from seeking funds from AIIB.
He also claimed that the BBMP administration had not taken the permission of the council, an elected body, before deciding to seek funds.