Hebbal Tunnel Exposes GBA's Delivery Governance Gap

Bengaluru's Hebbal tunnel project has become the first serious test of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), the city's new apex civic body, and it is slipping on process, not engineering.

Within five days of a public notice proposing the removal of 1,128 trees, more than 800 objections reached the GBA.

The statutory tree list was never uploaded to the authority's website.

Why the Statutory Tree List Went Missing

The disclosure chain explains why.

The Forest Cell supplied the inventory; the Information Technology Department was to publish it; officials blamed a technical glitch.

The list is now promised by September 28, with the objection window extended 10 days. The user agency is the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA).

Site access compounds the problem:

- Hebbal Lake is closed for desilting
- Hebbal Veterinary College has restricted entry since July
- University of Agricultural Sciences staff quarters are a private campus

So citizens cannot verify what they are being asked to accept.

Trees as Climate Infrastructure — and a Delivery Signal

Environmentalist Vinod Jacob frames urban trees as frontline climate infrastructure, warning of heat stress and hydrology impacts as Cauvery basin reservoirs sit below 50 per cent capacity.

But the objection is not merely ecological. It exposes a delivery signal: statutory felling clearance under Karnataka's tree preservation regime is now as schedule-critical as any road approval.

For EPC bidders and project owners, consultation time and disclosure are critical-path costs that capital plans rarely price.

Four Units, One Public Decision

The deeper issue is functional, not forest.

The GBA approves, the BDA executes, the Forest Cell inventories, the IT Department publishes — four units, one public decision, and a resident who sees a notice but not a tree, a cost or a capacity figure.

Without disclosed cost, capacity, timeline or a mass-transit comparison, the proportionality test between tunnels and metro or suburban rail cannot be run.

Bengaluru's next mobility contracts will be won or delayed not in the tunnel, but in the paperwork layered around it.