The Bangalore Agenda Task Force: a success story beyond compare in public –private partnership in India

The Bangalore Agenda Task force (BATF) set up in the year 2000 towards better management and development of Bangalore City is being termed as the first success story in public private partnerships in urban governance. Over a span of four years, the high profile forum headed by Infosys CEO, Nandan Nilekani with active support from the Chief Minister has implemented over 87 projects, some of which can be termed as big success in this bustling metropolis which is regarded as the silicon valley of India.

Over a four-year span BATF has succeeded in changing the face of Bangalore which was slipping in terms of infrastructure and facing stiff competition from cities like Hyderabad which was emerging as an alternative for the software industry. BATF whose core group consists of eminent citizens and corporate entities have been working on urban development projects related to infrastructure, civic amenities, waste management, public toilets, traffic management and policing. Many of its projects have got generous corporate funding. Today Bangalore has succeeded in warding of any threat, to its position, thanks to BATF.

In fact the scope of BATF’s work can be judged from its seven stakeholders, Bangalore Mahanagar Palike, Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Bangalore Electric Supply Corporation, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Bangalore City Police.

One of the reasons for BATF’s success story could be the fact it was initiated and got unstinted support from the Chief Minister, S.M Krishna. Moreover, almost every member of its advisory board, and core group which includes some big names from the corporate sector and has put in ample time and energy to make it work which makes it a good example of Corporate Responsibility. Many of its members like Ramesh Ramanathan who gave up his city bank job, Ravichander and Kalpana Kar have been working almost full time for the initiative. Even Nandan Nilekani has spared a lot of quality time attending meeting of BATF and financing of various initiatives.

Moreover, BATF did not have any direct link of any corporate to its strategic planning. The objective was to promote Bangalore as an investment destination and make it a world-class city which has beneficial repercussions for all corporates. Another reason for the success of BATF could be the fact that it has always taken the view of the society seriously. There was substantial reporting on the various aspects of the projects that BATF took up through market research. From the very beginning, there was an effort to apply modern management tools, professional PPP project design. On the accountability platform, there was no protection and the board had to face citizens, media and other stakeholders in a public forum.

The need to provide to all sections was another important part of BATF’s agenda. The sample size of the market research was split to take into account the distribution of incomes in the population and their characteristics. Another feather in the cap of BATFs initiative was the Janagraha movement, committed to increasing citizens participation in local self-government: the practice of participatory democracy. It runs three campaigns that engage citizens, government, non-governmental organisations and corporate institutions, each stakeholders with an interest in a better Bangalore. Under the Corporate Janaagraha programme, companies volunteer the time and skills of their staff towards various programmes.

Infact, during the last four years, BATF has achieved some notable successes. One of its major achievements was converting Bangalore Municipal Palike from an antiquated single entry bookkeeping practice to fund based accounting system based on fiduciary principles. BATF spent more than 3,00,000 man-hours in entering data, validating it and entering it into computers All this made tremendous improvement in the quality of reporting of BMP. Another significant achievement of BATF was the ‘Nirmala Bangalore’ launched for the construction of public toilets with PPP. This has involved developing a build operate transfer model for public toilets which has set a target for 100 toilets about 50% of this work has been completed.

But perhaps the biggest success story of BATF and the Krishna government has been the transformation of the Bangalore Development Authority. The organisation had failedto deliver on any criterion and the urban management committee had infact recommended its closure in 1999. Today it has become one of the most effective organisation in the country. The outer ring road which was behind schedule by years has been completed. Moreover from the miniscule 3,400 sites that the BDA had managed to develop into planned layouts from 1991 to 1999, it has disbursed 40,000 sites in the year 2001-2003.

Today the BDA is one of the most self-sufficient development authorities in the country and has been able to raise 100 crores of capital on its own with out a state government guarantee. The BATF in conjunction with the BDA has infact been entrusted with planning of Rs 175 crores of fresh infrastructure investments for the city. There are many more success stories like the Swachaha Bangalore for door to door collection of garbage, The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board for plugging leakage’s which has resulted in dramatic decrease of water problems in the city, working with the bangalore police to regulate traffic etc.

At present, BATF is working on redevelopment of 12 police stations and funds worth Rs 35 lakh per station are being provided by various corporate concerns. Today it can be said that BATF has finally arrived. Many state governments have evinced keen interest in BATF model. The high profile Delhi government, famous for its Bhagirdari scheme has decided to adopt BATFs methods to usher in governance reforms, a standing acknowledgment of BATFs success story.

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