Metro Rail work begins in 6 months

BANGALORE: It’s final. The Karnataka government has decided to hand over the Bangalore Metro Rail project to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) headed by managing director E. Sreedharan, architect of the Konkan Railway and Delhi Metro Rail.
Sources told the Sunday Times of India that Sreedharan and DMRC adviser S.N. Venkat Rao met chief secretary K.K.Misra a couple of days ago, as a follow-up of their meeting with chief minister S.M. Krishna last month.
Thursday’s meeting was attended by newly appointed managing director of Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Ltd S.A. Agawane and urban development principal secretary Shameem Banu. The government has appointed former Southern Railway chief administrative officer Sudhir Chandra as special officer for the project. A company, Bangalore Metro Corporation, is being formed as a Special Purpose Vehicle to execute the project.
The Karnataka government has worked out a structure, according to which the OSD will function under the directions and guidance of the DMRC, who will be lead managers for the project. The DMRC will be a kind of prime consultant that will approve design details and other formulations to be worked out by the general consultants, consisting of experts who are still to be appointed, sources said.
With this, the Bangalore Metro Rail project seems to have taken off quietly, even as the Planning Commission has finally approved it. The state government is waiting for central government clearance for the Rs 4,991-crore project.
The groundwork for the project will take six months before the physical work takes off. The time will be utilised for preliminary works like pegging out the actual alignment, getting the correct position of utilities underground, papers for land acquisition.
For now, Rail India Technical and Economic Services will provide the interim consultancy for a small stretch — from NGEF or Byappanahalli end to M.G. Road.
Sources said a portion of the cess collected by the Karnataka government for the Bangalore Metro Rail project, which accounts for a little over Rs 500 crore, has been released for the running of the Bangalore Metro Corporation office.
The DMRC, headed by a project director, the consultants and Bangalore Metro Corporation, the special officer and his unit will work from under one roof. The Bangalore Metro Corporation will be a lean organisation, like the DMRC.
On the fast track
Govt plans two corridors — 18.1-km north-south corridor between Yeshwantpur and J.P. Nagar; 14.9-km east-west corridor between Mysore Road-Banashankari Ring Road junction and Byappanahalli, near NGEF line.
Centre and state to share cost equally.
Project to be over in 5 years.