Expert derails Deve Gowda’s cost claims

Expert derails Deve Gowda’s cost claims
Deccan Herald

The advisor to the Bangalore metro rail project has debunked former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s claim that mono rail will be cheaper than the metro rail for Bangalore.

According to Mr S N Venkata Rao, the advisor to Bangalore Metro and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the implementation cost of mono rail will be higher than the metro rail by two to three folds. Besides, the mono rail can cater to only one fourth of the traffic handling capacity of the metro, he says.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Mr Rao said the cost of laying one km of metro rail track (elevated), including all expenses, would be about Rs 80 crore per km while that for the mono rail will vary from Rs 160 crore to 300 crore.

He said that even the fare structure is cheaper for the metro and is affordable by the common man. The maximum fare per travel (end to end) is about Rs 10 for the metro which is comparable to Pushpak bus fares. But it has to be over Rs 100 for mono rail considering the high implementation cost.

But if they keep it so high, they cannot attract passengers. But if they reduce it to the level of auto fares, the system will not be economically viable and they have to depend on either government subsidies or some other support like the Expressway project which is depending upon five townships.

On the statements that the metro passes through thickly populated business areas, he said any mass transit system has to pass through the heart of the city if it has to cater to a majority of the population.

Denying speculations that the metro rail project would lead to steep cost escalation, he said the increase for Delhi metro was mainly due to doubling of steel prices.

Mr Rao recalled that a team, comprising himself among others, had submitted a proposal to the government in 1983 itself indicating that it was possible to take up implementation of a metro rail, a circular rail project, and a sub-urban rail project -- all -- at a cost of Rs 650 crore. But the proposal had been rejected on the grounds that the cost of was “too high.”