Saturday, February 11 2006 14:40 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: With corporate bigwigs shying away from the city, Karnataka's new Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today (Feb 11 2006) initiated a damage control exercise, promising to rebuild the silicon valley's crumbling infrastructure.

"I will invite leaders of industry either on February 15 or 16 to assure them that within three months, the Government will not only improve roads to the satisfaction of all, but also initiate steps to ease traffic congestion," he told sources.

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 USD 3 billion 'Fab city' for the semiconductor industry in Hyderabad, for which Karnataka was a serious contender. 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".

On his February 6 meeting with officials of civic agencies, at which he directed them to take up road repairs and ease traffic congestion by March end, he warned that officials who failed to perform would face stern consequences.

Scale of investments by Siemens

He said he was aware of the scale of investments by Siemens, which has 24 per cent of its total work force in the country here and added that the Government would consider the views of not only this company, but that of others. "Within three months, the Government will provide better infrastructure," he said.

Kumaraswamy expressed the hope that the companies would not move out, citing poor roads as a reason since there was a pool of talented people in Bangalore.

The Chief Minister said he would visit Delhi for two days from Feb 13, during which he would call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and central ministers to seek more financial support to improve the infrastructure in the city.

He said the Centre was yet to honour the assurance of extending Rs 500 crore special grants announced by Union IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran to improve the infrastructure for Bangalore and also Rs 1,000 crore aid to repair roads damaged by torrential rains last year.

"My predecessor Dharam Singh led an all-party delegation to the Centre, seeking special assistance to improve roads in the city. But still no financial support has come," he said.

Unmindful of whether the Centre releases funds, the state would accord top priority to implement infrastructure development projects in the city, he said.

Kumaraswamy said he would undertake surprise visits to review the progress of works in the city. He said he has asked the City Corporation to start road repair works soon.