New GBA empowered panel to clear Bengaluru projects raises autonomy concerns for city corporations

State government sets up a 23-member empowered committee under GBA to oversee tenders and implementation of projects across Bengaluru, weeks after the city’s civic body was split into five corporations.

The Karnataka government has constituted a new empowered committee under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) to supervise development works and ensure effective execution of projects across the city. The move comes soon after the dissolution of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the restructuring of the city’s civic administration into five separate municipal corporations.

The panel, approved by the state cabinet earlier this month, has been created to address coordination challenges that emerged after the civic split. According to the government, the presence of multiple committees, independent agencies and the lack of a unified monitoring mechanism made it necessary to establish a single empowered body to oversee development works across Bengaluru.

While the GBA, chaired ex officio by the chief minister, continues to hold powers related to overall planning and coordination, the newly formed committee has been entrusted with operational responsibilities. These include inspection, supervision and approval of tenders for day-to-day development activities. The panel’s mandate extends not only to projects undertaken by the five city corporations but also to works executed by independent agencies functioning across Bengaluru.

Two major agencies operating outside the direct control of the city corporations are Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited (BSWML), which manages the collection and disposal of all forms of solid waste in the city, and Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited (B-Smile), responsible for implementing and maintaining large-scale infrastructure projects.

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A government note explaining the rationale behind the panel stated that it would oversee and approve tenders for projects funded through state and central government grants, finance commission allocations, corporations’ own funds and other funding sources. This applies to works executed by the five corporations, B-Smile and BSWML, all of which fall under the jurisdiction of the GBA.

The government has described the committee as a mechanism designed to speed up project execution in a city with a vast geographical spread and complex administrative structure. The panel will consist of 23 members, including commissioners and chief engineers from the five city corporations, chief engineers of the GBA, managing directors of BSWML and B-Smile, the public works department secretary, the finance (expenditure) secretary and other senior officials.

The committee will examine and oversee tenders for development projects across Bengaluru.

However, the government has not clearly outlined how the panel’s authority will interact with the independent functioning of the newly formed corporations or the decisions taken by their elected political leadership. This lack of clarity has led to concerns about whether the empowered committee could limit the autonomy promised to the five city corporations under the new governance structure.