Bangalore

The local media has been full of BIAL news for the past few months. There have been press conferences, by BIAL, against BIAL, PILs, reports of court hearings, letters to the editor, and everybody has a pet theory. Around a month back, amidst expectations of an imminent opening, a further delay was announced, mainly on account of the lack of readiness of the ATC infrastructure, inadequate operator training etc. The BIAL management was quick to point out that their scope of work, up to and including the trumpet interchange, was ready and that the ATC related delays were due to the IAAI. The next review is scheduled for 18^th April. There have been a slew of announcement regarding Volvo buses, authorized cabs with GPS units, road widening, and what have you. I decided to do an eyeball survey of the road to BIAL and figure out the level of readiness which one may discern by simple observation.

 

First the good news: starting at 0830 from Mekhri Circle, on 11 April, it took me around 45 minutes to reach the airport. However, one needs to be careful in generalizing from one such reading, particularly because the traffic volume will go up a factor of N, once the airport commences services. Hence, one really needs to model such traffic volumes (approximately 27,000 passengers per day), in order to estimate realistic commute times.

 

The road (NH7) is being widened on both sides, but it appears that a lot of work still remains to be done, before the widened roads are available for use, certainly several months at least. Surely, this will pose a serious   problem once the traffic volume sees a step increase. Given the criticality of this link, it is surprising to see the work proceeding slowly, as is usual for all projects in Bangalore.

 

Surprisingly, there seems to be a general lack of preparedness as one drives down the road. There is very little signage of any kind, there are large stretches without any street lights, optic fiber has been strung overhead, across poles and trees, and one has to wonder how dependable the telecom connectivity would be, with such obvious vulnerabilities staring us in the face. The road improves as we near Devanahalli, and suddenly, our cab driver makes a kind of U turn to get onto the trumpet, which has been much talked about. Considering the complete lack of any signs, we debate for a few minutes whether the approach could be so bad, enquire from a couple of workers, who wave us on impatiently.

 

This is where you get   a big surprise: the trumpet interchange is NOT ready, not by a long stretch. Lots of workers here for a change, but lots of work remains to be done as well. I wonder how the airport could have been declared ready months back, considering its current status. Getting out of the airport is a real nightmare, and you bump along a muddy track till you join back the highway. Apparently, lots more work needed out here. This looks like one of the big problems, simply getting in and out of BIAL, and one fervently hopes this will actually get completed before operations commence.

 

The roads inside the airport are even more dodgy, and one has to make bold decisions regarding what constitutes a road. By now, our cabbie is a nervous wreck, I am happy that I did not bring my own car, and we decide to park in a somewhat arbitrary location. You see a bunch of cars or bikes parked here and there, and join one of them, that’s how it works.

 

There seem to be thousands of workers and security guards, working at dozens of locations, and I keep thinking how this was declared to be ready months back. We walk into a building, which later turns out to be high security. The guard seems to be totally clueless and asks us for ID, and when we produce visiting cards, lets us in without a question. As we wander around, we finally meet an authorized employee, who asks us what we are up to. We mention a manager whom we want to meet, and this guy directs us there, telling us that we are in a restricted area.

 

The passenger area also looks incomplete, with work on the approach roads, parking areas, tiles being laid, polished, signs being put up. All around are various other buildings, mostly incomplete, with plenty of workers at each location. The overall structure is very impressive and the interior layout also looks very classy, and one only hopes that the finishing touches will be completed soon.

 

Its time to head back, and we are directed through a mud track and some fields, before finding our way back to the highway