Saturday, Mar 11, 2006
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Work on seven-kilometre stretch of Metro Rail likely to start soon http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/11/stories/2006031122010100.htm
Special Correspondent The stretch between the cricket stadium and Byappanahalli will be covered initially
Metro to have a logo of its own The project cost isRs. 6,300 crores It will have standard gauge BEML to build coaches which will costRs. 853 crores
Bangalore: Buoyed by the approval by the Group of Ministers, Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) K.N. Srivastava said here on Friday that work on a 7-km stretch from Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium to Byappanahalli may start soon.
"We may not wait for the appointment of the expert consultants to the project for this work to begin,'' he told presspersons. The road map for Bangalore Metro will go to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs by Monday, to be taken up at its meeting on Thursday and once cleared, the project will await final approval from the Union Cabinet, he said. For the construction work, 25 companies, 15 of them from overseas, participated in the "expression of interest" process and 12 have been short-listed. "The construction firm will have to find local partners and bid for the work. The bids will be scrutinised and approved in about 10 weeks," he said. For selecting the "general consultants" to the project, nine global consortia of Indian and foreign technical experts participated and five will be short-listed now, Mr. Srivastava said.
Taking into account the notices and hearings on acquisition of private land and other formalities, "work all over the city will start in earnest by September this year'', he said.
The only thing remaining will be the acquisition of 27 acres of private property some of it on CMH Road where residents and traders are seeking realignment of the metro route on Old Madras Road where government land is available. "The Government will study the report of its expert committee and will take a decision, and we will go by it,'' Mr. Srivastava said. A team, including BMRCL officials, engineers and a representative of RITES, are carrying out a final survey and measurement of private property. "We are following legal precedent by fixing generous rates of compensation and avoiding litigation. We should have legal possession of these 27 acres and the 621 units of property on them by the end of April,'' he said. Metro will have a logo of its own, selected from among 400 entries received in response to a design contest. It will be formally unveiled on Monday by the Governor at Raj Bhavan.
Project cost
BMRCL has finalised the project cost at Rs. 6,300 crores. Of this, Rs. 1,800 crores will come from the State Government and Rs. 1,500 crores from the Union Government. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation will finance Rs. 1,800 crores, while borrowings from Indian financial institutions, with UTI Bank as the lead facilitator, will amount to Rs. 1,200 crores. The Government has collected Rs. 800 crores as a special cess to finance Metro and this is to be handed over to BMRCL. The Union Budget has made an allocation of Rs. 30 crores for Metro for now.
For financial assistance from Japan, the Union Government is expected to sign an agreement with the bank at Tokyo in April. BMRCL has been offered Rs. 4,000 crores as loan by various banks in India. Funding from Japan will be charged at 1.3 per cent interest, while Indian banks may charge up to 8 per cent.
Metro will use standard gauge, and Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) will build the rolling stock. The coaches will cost Rs. 853 crores.
The fare structure will take into account distance and comparable to ordinary bus fares. Metro passengers will pay a minimum of Rs. 7 and a maximum fare of Rs. 15 compared to Rs. 6 and Rs. 14 in Delhi. There will be one train of six coaches each running every three minutes in either direction. Frequency can be increased or reduced as traffic warrants. Metro may be fully operational in about three years after work starts and on some stretches even earlier.
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