BENGALURU: With the urban development department urging the defence ministry and the ministry of civil aviation to ease the building height restrictions around the airports in Bengaluru, the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) is keen on encouraging the construction of high-rise buildings. Officials in the GBA’s town planning department said high-rise buildings are the future to accommodate the city’s growing population.
An official in the town planning department said, “Compared to other cities in India, Bengaluru has fewer high-rise buildings. The city has many low-rise buildings spread across large plots of land, resulting in horizontal expansion rather than vertical growth. Urban sprawl (unplanned expansion characterised by low-density development), compared to other cities, is more prevalent in Bengaluru.”
The restrictions on the building height around airports have curtailed the vertical growth in Bengaluru, the official said. “In several cities, such as Singapore, Amsterdam, Dallas, London and Dubai, the areas around the airports are being developed into multi-use spaces such as office, entertainment and residential areas.
The airports are leading the urban transformation by becoming major employment hubs and urban centres, rather than being just transport nodes,” the official said, urging the defence and aviation ministries to limit the height restrictions to only up to 15km from the aerodrome reference point, instead of 20km.
The official said that worldwide, compact development is the future and the restrictions on high-rise buildings will severely hamper the development of the core city area and impact the transit-oriented development and comprehensive mobility plan. He said that because of this, the precious land in the city is getting wasted, and the cost of laying the necessary infrastructure is becoming high.
Sharing an example, the official said, “The cost of laying infrastructure for a one square kilometre area gets doubled for a two square kilometre area. However, the cost would go up by around 10%, to provide infrastructure for vertical growth in the same one square kilometre area.”
The official said the Premium Floor Area Ratio (PFAR) was introduced to fight urban sprawl and develop urban areas more densely. He was hopeful that the request by the state government would be accepted and pave the way for high-rises around the airports and the city.