Two Decades On, 85% of Bengaluru's CDP Roads Remain on Paper: How Planning Failures Are Choking the City's Tech Corridors

Bengaluru's famous traffic jams are often blamed on the sheer number of vehicles, but a closer look reveals a deeper problem: a large part of the road network promised in the city's master plan was never built. Nearly two decades after the Comprehensive Development Plan, or CDP, was drawn up, roughly 85 percent of the roads it identified remain only on paper, leaving thousands of residents and commuters trapped in gridlock across the city's fast-growing tech corridors.

A Plan That Never Reached the Ground

The Revised Master Plan, also known as the Comprehensive Development Plan, earmarked about 1,000 kilometres of roads to improve connectivity and support the city's growth. These roads became a major driver of real estate development and economic expansion, as builders and investors relied on the promise of future access. According to an expert quoted in reports, roughly 65 kilometres of roads had been earmarked for widening under the 2015 plan, but the proposed works remain on paper. Around 85 percent of the CDP roads promised remain unbuilt, he said, attributing the problem to poor implementation.

Residents Pay the Price

The effects are visible in neighbourhoods across the city. From Balagere and Panathur in the east to Kogilu in the north, families and commuters face daily congestion because massive apartment complexes have been approved without the arterial roads that the master plan promised. A resident of Balagere asked why policymakers have shown little interest in completing the CDP road even though they have benefited from the development it was meant to support. In north Bengaluru, residents of Kogilu say the absence of CDP roads forces them to take detours of up to 30 minutes. In one area, residents depend on two narrow roads, including Mahalakshmi Layout Road and another local stretch, both of which struggle to handle the traffic.

Land Acquisition and the TDR Problem

Officials acknowledge that implementing CDP roads is difficult, especially when private properties fall along the proposed alignments. Land acquisition is the most commonly cited obstacle, particularly in high-value neighbourhoods where owners may be reluctant to accept the compensation on offer. Landowners who give up land can receive development rights certificates, which allow additional construction beyond the otherwise permissible floor area or can be transferred. However, an urban planner pointed out that the framework needs to be made more attractive. Bengaluru currently offers development rights equivalent to twice the land value, but this may not be enough in areas such as Varthur where property prices are high. For a parcel larger than an acre it may make sense for an owner to relinquish a portion, but for smaller plots it may not.

Planning Without Integration

Urban planners say the problem is not only the missing roads but also the lack of integrated planning. Earlier discussions about the Varthur-Gunjur corridor highlighted that residential growth has outpaced road capacity, and that around 30 percent of peripheral areas outside the Greater Bengaluru area are now urban in character, resulting in narrow two-lane roads, irregular widths and inadequate footpaths. Civic groups have called for metropolitan-level planning that links land use with mass transit, buses, walking and cycling instead of leaving residential expansion dependent on private vehicles.

New Maps, Old Questions

Last week, planning agencies including the Greater Bengaluru Authority and the Bangalore Development Authority released provisional road circulation maps earmarking thousands of kilometres of land, including private properties, for future roads. The move is meant to create a clearer framework for development, but it has also raised concerns among property owners about possible restrictions on their land. Experts warn that unless the new maps are backed by funding, realistic compensation and strict enforcement, they could end up as another set of lines on paper.

What Needs to Change

Planners suggest several steps: linking building approvals to the delivery of access roads, making transferable development rights more attractive, setting up a dedicated agency to acquire land on time and publishing progress reports so that citizens can track delivery. Transport infrastructure accounts for only about 7 to 9 percent of the city's area, a far lower share than in many global cities, which underlines the scale of the gap. Without a course correction, the city's tech corridors, which are the engine of its economy, could continue to be choked by the same planning failures.

This report is based on published news coverage and statements attributed to planners, officials and residents.