Bengaluru Road Splits Spark Worries Causing Concerns About Maintenance Duties
As Bengaluru moves ahead with its ambitious plan to split its civic governance into five corporations, residents and civic experts are raising red flags over a growing operational concern—the maintenance of boundary roads now falling under multiple jurisdictions. Arterial roads such as Sampige Road, Palace Road, and parts of Outer Ring Road, which previously fell under a single civic body, will now form dividing lines between two corporations, raising questions over responsibility, funding, and coordination for their upkeep. This jurisdictional split has triggered concerns of deteriorating road quality, delayed responses to complaints, and lack of accountability.
These roads—often among the city’s most congested—are central to Bengaluru’s urban mobility. Dividing them between separate municipal administrations may worsen confusion for commuters and disrupt timely civic services. Experts suggest that the structural flaw lies in the planning logic, which used wider roads to define boundaries between new corporations. While administratively sound on paper, this method risks practical dysfunction unless new institutional mechanisms are created. Past experiences in areas split across assembly constituencies already revealed bureaucratic delays in road repairs and infrastructure projects due to overlapping responsibilities. Multiplying this issue citywide, experts warn, could paralyse service delivery. Civic officials admit that overlapping governance has historically led to inconsistencies in infrastructure maintenance, especially when multiple departments or bodies claim authority.
With the BBMP now transitioning into a five-corporation model, the challenges could multiply unless a centralised operational body oversees these shared assets. The suggestion of creating a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV)—like B.SMILE—to manage border and arterial roads has been gaining traction. Such an entity could be tasked with uniform upkeep and budgeting across jurisdictions, enabling smoother execution of road work and infrastructure upgrades. Without a unified framework, city residents risk falling into administrative cracks. Citizen groups are particularly worried about the implications for public safety, daily commutes, and emergency services. Roads like Bannerghatta Main Road and Kanakapura Road, which now fall on civic borders, already suffer from congestion, potholes, and drainage issues. If maintenance is split or disputed, accountability gaps may result in chronic delays and civic apathy.
Advocacy groups are calling for binding guidelines and annual maintenance audits for boundary roads, with clearly defined funding and accountability structures. Additionally, planners have suggested adding “border roads” as a new classification under road categories, distinct from arterial or collector roads, to ensure clarity in governance models. As Bengaluru reconfigures its governance in a bid to become more decentralised and citizen-focused, infrastructure equity must not fall victim to administrative complexity.
The success of this multi-corporation model will depend on how efficiently shared civic assets—especially key transport corridors—are managed across boundaries. Prioritising institutional coherence, citizen feedback, and innovative models like citywide SPVs could help avert future governance chaos. In a city already grappling with congestion and service delays, residents are hopeful that this restructuring is a path to reform, not another bureaucratic burden.
