Metro: Defence land comes through

Defence land comes through
The Times of India

Bangalore: Yet another hurdle for the Bangalore Metro Rail project has been removed. The Defence Ministry has issued orders for the transfer of 102 acres of land for the project.


Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited (BMRTL) managing director K.N. Shrivastava said now, the BMRTL needs to acquire private land and the task has been given to Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) and it will be done over the next three months. The total area of private land required is 27.70 acres. The state government will allocate 53.46 acres, which will also be acquired by the KIADB.

On the charges made by the CMH Road Traders Association and also the residents of the area that their buildings will be demolished, he said the government had notified as early as 1996 that the land was being acquired for the Metro Rail project and some of the traders purchased and built properties after that notification.

On a criticism that the project may prove to be a very costly affair, Shrivastava said the Delhi Metro Rail project which started at an approved cost of Rs 4,860 crore in April 1996 did not account for the completed cost (10 years) of Rs 7,582 crore unlike the Bangalore project. But the Delhi Metro Rail construction started only in October 1998, after a delay of two years.

Also, the original length of the project was 55.3 km with 11 km underground component. But this was revised to 58.3 km and an extra two km undergound. The revised completed cost went up to Rs 10,571 crore.