Metro rail work delayed by three more months

Metro rail work delayed by three more months

The Hindu


BANGALORE: Bangaloreans will have to wait three more months than the date originally promised to take their first ride in the metro. The first 7-km stretch of the metro rail from Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium to Byappanahalli will be ready only by March 2010, and not December 2009, as announced by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) Ltd when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation for the project on June 24, 2006.

The project was to be commissioned by September 2011. This now stands extended by three months. If BMRC keeps its promise, the people of the city will be able travel from Yeshwanthpur to R.V. Road end in the North-South corridor and from Mysore Road (Amco Batteries) to Byappanahalli in the East-West Corridor by December 2011. The two lines crisscross at Majestic where interchange is to be provided.

The BMRC, which is extending the North-South corridor by 5.5 km to Hesaraghatta Road on Tumkur Road, is yet to announce the completion date for this stretch.

In a clarification to questions raised by those who are participating in the tenders for appointment of consultants, the BMRC said that the revised schedules were "tentative." According to this, the Yeshwanthpur-Swastik section will be completed by November 2010, the underground sections (both corridors) by August 2011, City Railway Station-Mysore Road Terminal section by October 2011 and the City Market-R.V. Road section by December 2011.

The BMRC had announced earlier that the work for the civil works in the Reach 1 of the project (Cricket Stadium to Byappanahalli) would be awarded by November this year. But the bids were opened only by the end of November.

The bids were under scrutiny. V. Madhu, Managing Director, BMRC, said the Government Order was clear that the project must be completed within five years from the date of the commencement of actual work.