Work on Bangalore Metro to begin anytime now

The last hurdle for the much-awaited Bangalore Metro Rail has been cleared with the Federal Government’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs giving its final stamp of approval for the project that is aimed at decongesting the City’s chaotic roads.

According to officials of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC), which is implementing the Rs 63.95 billion project, work on laying the 36.5 kms of urban rail network through traffic-choked Bangalore, can begin “anytime now” in the wake of green signal given to the project by the Federal Government.

Dubbed at the “biggest infrastructure project” to decongest Bangalore’s roads, the Metro Rail project with two corridors criss-crossing the City can ferry around one million people back and forth each day. The Bangalore Metro Rail project modelled along the lines of Delhi Metro will be implemented over a period of five years.

The Bangalore Metro Rail project will have an equity participation of Rs 12 billion from the Federal Government while the Karnataka Government’s contribution will be Rs 18 billion. The BMRC will obtain a loan of Rs 30 billion from the Japan Bank for International Co-operation.

The BMRC, which had been so far doing the spadework for the project, can start spending money in the wake of the Federal Cabinet’s approval at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday. To start with, work on the first segment of the project between Byappannahalli and Chinnaswamy Stadium on Cubbon Road is expected to begin immediately. BMRC will shortly finalise the tender for awarding the overall contract to an international consortium that will award packages to various contractors.

Proposed to be built with standard gauge tracks, both underground as well as elevated, the Metro Rail project seeks to provide an efficient mass transit system to people with perks like fares competitive to bus transport and a single ticket that allows both ride on the metro and the bus.

Bangalore will become the third metropolis in India after Kolkata and Delhi to have a Metro Rail. The Karnataka Government has conceived a Metro Rail for Bangalore in search for a solution to the traffic nightmares of bustling technology hub, which has about 2.5 million vehicles plying on its roads.