Cong MLAs bat for Metro

Cong MLAs bat for Metro
The Times of India

Bangalore: Is Bangalore’s transport dream going off the rails? JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda stunned all by applying brakes on the Metro Rail and wrote to the PM seeking a review. The reactions were fast and furious: on Sunday, BJP legislators protested; on Monday, their colleagues from Congress followed. All MLAs maintained the project is necessary.

Stung by the opposition, Gowda’s son and JD(S) state working president H.D. Kumaraswamy said: “My father is not against the project... The JD(S) has no problems with Metro or Monorail.’’

But wait. A Malaysian consortium, Kencana Kasifa Transit Systems, has come forward to execute a ‘driverless’ Metro at no cost to the government. It has begun lobbying barely two days before the Public Investment Board meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday, which is to clear the project.

The consortium consisting of giants Opus, IJM, Sistem Konpakar, and ECM Libra, in a tie-up with Indian company NEB Infrastructure, made a presentation to CM Dharam Singh a couple of months ago. The government is yet to decide.
Topping the confusion is another company, MetRail’s pitch for the Monorail, a system made popular in amusement parks and as airport shuttles.

The Metro, experts say, is the backbone for any urban transportation system. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMC) adviser S.N. Venkata Rao says: “Our experience in Delhi has been good. The world over, Monorail has only been a feeder service and is costly.’’

Malaysian Consortium MD Syed Saahil Saif felt comparing the Metro and Monorail is akin to a comparison between Boeing/Airbus and Cessna. But MetRail spokesman Rehan Khan argued: “Monorail is cost-effective.’’