Bangalore Update II - project news from Bangalore

[Suncity]

Anand Rao Circle flyover thrown open to traffic
http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/11/stor...1120920300.htm

Photo
http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/11/imag...1120920301.jpg

Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy inaugurated the flyover at Anand Rao Circle here on Friday. Though the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), which started the project in December 2004, had promised to complete the flyover in November last, the deadline was postponed twice. The Rs. 27.60-crore project has a main carriageway of 647 metres and is 14 metres wide. It is expected to ease traffic congestion by 10,000 passenger car units (PCU) per hour. It is a free carriageway. The project, carried out by Simplex Concrete Piles (I) Ltd., includes a five-lane uni-directional carriageway up to Anand Rao Circle with a two-lane one-way down ramp towards Basaveshwara Circle and a four-lane one-way flyover on Seshadri Road crossing Anand Rao Circle and Subbanna Circle. Officials said work on a 7.5-metre wide loop just after the Anand Rao Circle is pending and will be completed by April.

Karnataka CM promises to rebuild Bangalore's infrastructure
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...s/14111509.htm

With corporate bigwigs shying away from the city, Karnataka's new Chief Minister, Mr H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday initiated a damage control exercise, promising to rebuild the Silicon Valley's crumbling infrastructure.
Mr Kumaraswamy's reaction follows a threat by Siemens India, which yesterday said it would not take up expansion plans in Bangalore due to poor infrastructure, including traffic chaos.

Only a day before, SemIndia had announced its plan to set up India's first $3 billion 'Fab city' for the semiconductor industry in Hyderabad, for which Karnataka was a serious contender. Mr Kumaraswamy yesterday said he would make a renewed bid to persuade SemIndia to opt for Karnataka.

Appealing to industrialists to cooperate with the new Government, he said, "We are only nine days old. We will clear all doubts regarding infrastructure to investors and turn the city investor-friendly soon."

[Suncity]

Shell to establish technology centre in Bangalore
http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/08/stor...0807330400.htm

The world's third largest integrated oil company by market capitalisation, Royal Dutch Shell, is setting up a technology centre in Bangalore that will deliver high-end technical studies, projects and services for Shell across the globe as well as supporting interests in India.

"Bangalore will be the location for our latest technology centre. Currently, Shell has major research and development facilities in Houston (U.S.) and at Rijswijk and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Bangalore will be the third key location for Royal Dutch Shell technology," the company's India chief has said.

The services will span upstream exploration and production activities as well as downstream refinery and chemical operations. Shell Technology India (STI) will also provide access to cutting-edge Indian talent.

SanDisk Corp launches R&D unit in B’lore
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14136057

SanDisk Corporation, a leading flash memory data storage card products supplier, today announced the launch of its Research and Development facility -- the SanDisk India Device Design Centre Pvt Limited -- in the city.
Speaking to newspersons here, company Chief Operations Officer Sanjay Mehrotra said SanDisk had its R and D facilities in Israel, Japan and Scotland, besides Bangalore. It had teams of process, design and device engineers located at semiconductor fabrication plants, operated in partnership with Toshiba, in Japan. About India, he said it was expected to become a major market for SanDisk products as a result of booming demand for mobile phones and MP3 audio players. ''We need to have a solid presence to promote our brand and to leverage the opportunities for growth in the retail sector.'' India was a place for SanDisk to expand its global network of R and D centres because of the great talent pool available and the company's existing relationships with companies that support it in hardware, firmware and software testing, he added.

Wind River starts development centre in Bangalore
http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/busin...es/133523.html

Wind River Systems, a US-headquarterd firm that works in device software optimisation space, has announced the opening of its development centre in Bangalore. The centre will focus on new innovations to its product line, the company which has a sales office here, informed in a statement.
"The India development centre will be a centre of competence for a variety of technologies both in the traditional device software space such as C, C++, RTOS and also in newer technologies like Eclipse and J2EE. We plan to leverage the large pool of experts in these areas available in Bangalore," said Naren Nachiappan, vice president, Wind River Systems.

Tensilica Sets Up R&D Unit At Bangalore
http://www.efytimes.com/fullnews.asp?edid=10127

Tensilica, Inc. has set up a subsidiary at Bangalore to conduct fundamental and innovative R&D work for its configurable processor technology. The company's engineers are already working on critical technology for its Xtensa configurable processor product line at this R&D centre.

Tensilica’s processors are key components in system-on-chip (SOC) designs among the world’s top electronics companies, including Cisco Systems, LG Electronics, Olympus, Seiko Epson, etc. The company expects to pump over $40 million in this engineering centre over the next five years. The company is now on a head-hunt for open positions at this design centre.

Chris Rowen, president and CEO, Tensilica, said, “Because of the wealth of talented engineers available in India, we see this R&D centre as an integral part of our core R&D effort to develop the next wave in fundamental multiprocessor system-on-chip (SOC) design technology. Already, the development efforts underway in this office have become very productive, and we see a strong interchange between the team in our Santa Clara, Calif. USA headquarters and this team. This centre also gives us stronger contact with our customers in India.”

DaimlerChrysler to step up India R&D outsourcing
http://us.rediff.com/money/2006/feb/...q=bp&file=.htm

German carmaker DaimlerChrysler will increase outsourcing of Research and Development to India. DaimlerChrysler Research Centre in Bangalore undertakes research in he areas of encryption, image signal processing, telematics, fuel cell modelling, CAD, CAM, CAE and PDM, for the company's global requirements. The Indian centre would assist the group in designing and technology upgrade. "DaimlerChrysler is planning to significantly augment R&D works at DMRC in these areas. Similarly, the group's outsourcing of components like motors and crankshafts from India is also going to grow," Wilfried Aulbur, MD and CEO, DaimlerChrysler India, said.

Verismo Networks sets up product development centre
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/1385491.cms

Verismo Networks on Tuesday announced investment of $ 2.5 mn from angel investor and tech entrepreneur Prakash Bhalerao and setting up of a product development and customer support centre here.

Most of Verismo's products would be completely designed and developed in its Bangalore centre, which currently engages over 100 engineers experienced in broadband, multimedia compression and storage technologies, company officials said.

[kronik]

Bangalore to get first green exhibition complex

A 4-lakh square-feet exhibition complex is being built by the Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers' Association (IMTMA) near Peenya and will be completed by the end of the year. The complex is expected to secure the platinum rating, the highest rating for a ‘green’ building some time during 2007.

The country’s first green rated school, built by automobile major Ashok Leyland, is to come up in Hosur, an industrial suburb of Bangalore, but geographically located in Tamil Nadu.

With the idea of conserving natural resources catching up among the Indian corporates, the concept of green buildings has caught on and several firms have come forward to get their projects registered for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating.

During the last three years, three buildings in the country have been platinum-rated. They are CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre in Hyderabad, the Wipro campus at Gurgaon, and ITC Green Centre in Delhi. In addition to these, the country has two gold standard green buildings -- Grundfos and NEG Micon, both in Chennai.

[kronik]

Brand B'lore set to bloom with 3 townships

Three townships for the IT sector: This is the Centre's gift to Karnataka to ensure that Brand Bangalore continues to fly high.

Karnataka's proposal that the IT sector should get three exclusive townships got the Centre's nod on Tuesday.

"The specific location for the townships have not been identified, but they will be between Bangalore and Mysore," state officials told The Times of India.

In a post-budget news conference in New Delhi, all Union finance minister P Chidambaram said was: "We want to encourage such theme-based townships, which will have some industry components, similar to the Chinese model."

[magestom]

I am guessing that the location will be along the Delhi-Mysore Expressway.

[monyaam]

Originally Posted by magestom

I am guessing that the location will be along the Delhi-Mysore Expressway.

Did you mean to say "Bangalore-Mysore Expressway" ?

[magestom]

Ya. My mistake! I have no clue why I said Delhi.

[Tintin27]

Do you think we should start a thread on Bangalore Metro rail now that the project seems to be going forward? I must say, so far the CM is doing gr8 for blore..

[pding]

Apple Support Centre in Bangalore

Apple Computer is reportedly setting up an online technical support centre in Bangalore, at an estimated investment of a whopping $20 million. In effect, the Bangalore facility will be the computer giant's first support centre outside of its California headquarters.

According to sources the Bangalore centre is being set up in the EcoSpace Business Park area, by property developer RMZ Corp. The facility will be spread over 1,40,000 to 1,50,000 sq ft, and is expected to be operational by end 2006.

It is believed that the centre will be a mix of high-end product development work and call centre (technical support) work.

While the product development team is likely to include around 100 to 200 engineers, the centre will offer support services for the entire range of Apple products including iPods (MP3 players); desktops (e Macs, Power Macs, etc); notebooks (ibooks, Powerbooks); peripherals; software; and servers.

Apple is likely to eventually employ up to 1,400 to 1,500 people in its Bangalore AppleCare Centre. The proposed centre will have in its neighbourhood, the likes of Accenture, Symbol, ICICI, Cadence, Broadcom, etc.

Both Apple and RMZ Corp have remained incommunicado about the upcoming center. However a state government official revealed that the government had cleared Apple s proposal to invest in Bangalore.

IBM Launches New Global Business Solution Center in India

http://news.tmcnet.com/news/-ibm-lau...13/1451817.htm

IBM announced a new Global Business Solution Center in Bangalore, India to provide its clients with a range of high-value solutions through its global network of delivery centers.

The new center will enable the IBM consultants to develop and deploy solutions in over 50 key business areas such as Consumer Driven Supply Chain Optimization, Banking Risk and Compliance and Retail Merchandising.

IBM can now create and enhance a portfolio of replicable industry solutions that are developed by combining the strengths of IBM's business consulting, research, software, systems, engineering and emerging technologies.

The new solutions will be developed based on IBM's Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) methodology in collaboration with IBM clients and business partners. The center is set to become a foundry for the solutions, enabling IBM to deliver them to clients globally, rapidly and cost-effectively, through its global network of consulting delivery centers.

despite all the recent hullabulla about creaky infrastructure and all other stuff, b'lore is still the top destination for ITites. companies like IBM, cisco, AMD (global behemoths) are continually investing in this city and the trend really isn't stopping.
but eventually, the infrastructure woes will catch up. really surprising that kumaraswamy is still not reacting much to put the limelight on development activities. he still hasn't learnt the lesson.
very sad that a high potential state like karnataka is being ruled by assholes like gowda, k'swamy, dsingh, etc etc.
what happened to the likes of SM Krishna???

[WillyWick]

Rs 2,000-cr CNG project to come up in Bangalore

Speaking after the inauguration of GAIL-supported Air Pollution Related Disease Diagnostic Centre at the SDS TB & Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases at Hosur Road, GAIL Finance Director R K Goel said the project to supply CNG would be taken up at Bangalore at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore. The natural gas project will be a joint venture programme.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanhe...9202006313.asp

[WillyWick]

Evident Software Establishes an Engineering Centre of Excellence in Bangalore to Meet Growing Market Needs
http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news.html?d=95664


Societe Generale expands B'lore operations
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14162022

[Babji]

http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/25/stor...2522140500.htm
Quote:
Government gives nod for eight IT, BT Special Economic Zones

Special Correspondent Mega projects with Rs. 27,000 crores investment cleared Mega projects worth Rs. 27,000 crores cleared by the State Government
· Six of the special economic zones will come up in Bangalore and two in Mysore
· Wipro has been allotted 100 acres of land in Mysore

Bangalore: Mega projects with an investment of Rs. 27,000 crores were approved by the State Government here on Friday. Of these, setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) for Information Technology (IT) and Biotechnology sectors alone will account for about Rs. 20,000 crores.
The approvals are apparently meant to remove the tag that the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition is "anti-IT". These approvals were given at a meeting of State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC) chaired by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who holds the Finance and Industry portfolios, was present at the meeting. The committee clears projects that are above Rs. 50 crores.
10 proposals pending
The proposals cleared include eight Special Economic Zones, which will be exclusively developed for information technology and biotechnology sectors. Six of these will be in Bangalore and two in Mysore. Sources said 10 proposals were pending with the Government.
Land allotted
Some of the SEZs cleared include those of Adarsh IT and IteS; Prestige Group; Dynasty, Sapphire and Tanglin Developers, and Shapurji Pallonji in Bangalore. Jubilant Organosys will set up a biotech SEZ in Mysore. Wipro has been allotted 100 acres in Mysore for a research and development centre.
This is the third highest investment cleared by the committee, after 2000-01 when 88 projects with an investment of Rs. 38,345 crores and in 1995-96 when 27 projects with an investment of Rs. 30,188 crores were cleared.

[pding]

Great news for b'lore. even with the current mess with it's infrastructure, Bangalore will lead all other cities in IT substantially for many more years to come, if things continue the way they are right now.

[monyaam]

Karnataka Govt clears Infosys land acquisition

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...2602900200.htm

Infosys Technologies' pursuit of land acquisition in the city ended with the Karnataka Government finally having cleared its case recently for 845 acres.

[Hindustani]

[Babji]

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/27/s...2719180100.htm
Quote:
Narayana Murthy praises Kumaraswamy
Special Correspondent
BANGALORE: Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies N.R. Narayana Murthy has come out in praise of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's attitude towards industrial development, especially that of the information technology sector.
Speaking to a television channel here on Sunday, he described the Chief Minister's decisions as "well intentioned." About the approval for 845 acres of land for his company, Mr. Narayana Murthy said that Infosys had bought it at market rates from landholders. The Government had only approved the acquisition of land, he said meaning that the land had not been bought from the Government.

[Babji]

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/03/28/s...2820690100.htm
Quote:
Government to implement Rs. 350-crore project to tackle traffic problem in Bangalore
Special Correspondent
It is to be implemented between 2006-07 and 2010-11; Rs. 44 crores earmarked for this fiscal

· 10-point programme to ensure smooth movement of vehicles
· Work on city roads taken up under 85 packages
· 41 roads to be developed under World Bank loan
· 30-km outer ring road to be built to decongest traffic

BANGALORE: The Government is planning to implement a Rs. 350-crore Bangalore Traffic Improvement Project to tackle traffic problem in the State capital. Replying to a Calling Attention notice from K. Chandrashekar and N.L. Narendrababu (both Congress) in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said the project will be implemented between 2006-07 and 2010-11. A sum of Rs. 44 crores has been earmarked for it in the 2006-07 financial year.
To ensure smooth movement of vehicles in the city, a 10-point programme will be prepared with the participation of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation and the Police Department. The programme will address issues related to roads, traffic management, bus stands, parking and road safety.

The work on city roads has been taken up under 85 packages. Fortyone roads will be developed under a World Bank loan and 29 roads under the information technology corridor category. The BMP has set aside adequate funds for road repairs in all wards. A 30-km outer ring road will be built to decongest the traffic, he said.

While work on a few flyovers has been completed, it is in progress on the ones at Airport Road and near the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology. Flyovers will be constructed at Tagore Circle, R.V. Teachers College Circle and Yeshwanthpur Circle. Work on a flyover at Ramakrishna Ashram was stopped following opposition to the project from the citizens, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

For better traffic management, 992 police constables and officers will be recruited. About 17 lakh cases were registered in 2005 and Rs. 20 crores had been collected in the form of fine from vehicle users. More number of pre-paid autorickshaw stands will be set up. There are seven pre-paid autorickshaw stands now. ...

[Tintin27]

I just found an article which is one yr old on net. Does anyone has idea bout watz going on with the Commuter train project in blore??



While the metro rail will cater to the central parts, the proposed electric train service will connect densely-populated and congested residential areas.

BY P M RAGHUNANDAN
DH NEWS SERVICE, BANGALORE:


Citizens in the highly-congested western and eastern parts of Bangalore need not be disgruntled over the fact that the proposed metro rail project will not pass through most of their localities. For, an almost similar electric train service will be in place -- if all goes well -- much before the proposed metro rail chugs off.

The South Western Railways is planning to take up electrification of the tracks on all stations located in the western and eastern parts of the city connecting Malleshwaram with Byappanahalli off Old Madras Road. The project, which has already got the green signal from the Central Railway Board, is designed to cover all 11 existing railway stations here along two separate routes -- the inner and the outer chords.

Besides, stations will be upgraded with better amenities so that they can cater to the increasing passenger rush.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 24 crore.

Areas covered

While trains in the inner chord will cover Malleshwaram, Yeshwanthpur, Hebbal and Banaswadi (spanning 14 km), the outer chord will touch a larger ring of stations like Malleshwaram, Yeshwanthpur, Lottegollahalli, Kodigehalli, Yelahanka, Tanisandra, Chennasandra and Byappanahalli (total 31 km).

Trains on both routes will commence from the Bangalore City station in Majestic area, sources in the South Western Railway told Deccan Herald.

The proposed metro rail, which will be implemented by Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited (BMRTL), will pass through only Yeshwanthpur and Byappanahalli in Bangalore eastern and western parts. In fact, while the Bangalore metro rail is designed to cater to central parts of the City, the electric train service will supplement easy travel by covering far-flung areas.

The electric trains will cater to newly-developed densely-populated residential areas along the outer ring road. There will be no changes in rate of fare in the service.

In fact, many people, especially labourers, are already making use of existing train services to travel between these stations. The reason is that trains are more convenient and economical compared to the city bus service. For instance, one has to change two buses to reach Yeshwanthpur from Banaswadi, and it requires over one hour to reach the destination through traffic jams in the heart of the city.

However, trains will not be operated exclusively on these routes. Instead, passengers would have to use all trains presently running on these routes.

“We have plans to increase the number of trips, both up and down everyday on both routes, if there is more demand from the passengers,” Divisional Electrical Engineer (Traction) South Western Railways, Praveen Poddar said.

Electrification work will be taken up at the end of this year. “It requires 10 months to complete the work. Tentatively, the electric train service will commence in two years’ time,” Mr Poddar added.

[Tintin27]

Present Devanahalli Railway station???
http://irfca.org/gallery/Suburban/DMU/DSCN3481.jpg.html

[vadi]

Originally Posted by Tintin27

Present Devanahalli Railway station???
http://irfca.org/gallery/Suburban/DMU/DSCN3481.jpg.html

Hi Tintin,
This is the CRS that was envisaged in the Blore master plan. A few days ago I had a post here on this issue with maps and all. There was no response so I finally pulled that down.

The route covers north blore pretty well and also extends south-east skirting the IT corridor. given that metro penetration into blore SE is going to be only considered in phase II, this could have served a important link in connecting BIA to SE Blore. This requires double laning and electrification of some tracks and upgradation of some facilities. Unfortunately, this years railway budget did measly little for this. for example the SBC Salem line got a paltry 1 lakh or so and SWR has only been issuing tenders for sheds and paint jobs and such on these lines.

I guess the hyderabad MMTS blunder (good network but no feeder services) does not inspire the powers that be in KN.

but that is on anvil and that is a positive. there even is a plan for integration with other servies. for example byapanahalli is planned to be a major hub for changing modes.
but these are just plans .......... the reality is metro seem to have this vision of blore mass transit dominated by them. may be that is a stance necessitated for PR given the kind of opposition they have faced thus far.

here is the map. i could have given you the kmz but i lost it.
yellow=metro (approx)
maroon=exisiting n/w: CRS to run on this.
blue = ORR
white= PRR