Dig up roads, pay BBMP

Dig up roads, pay BBMP
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bangalore: The Rs 6,400-crore Namma Metro will not just unlock the city’s traffic grid. The project will also make the BBMP richer by Rs 167 crore!
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) has paid road-cutting and rent charges to the BBMP for using roadspace and digging roads. As a rule, any government or private body that digs roads for laying cables or does any other earthwork has to pay a certain amount as road-digging charges before work commences.
The BBMP has charged the BMRC Rs 167 crore for the 33-km Phase I of the project towards roadcutting and rent. This was in response to letters from the BMRC, dated January 1 and February 2, asking the BBMP to calculate the charges and draw up a bill.
“Every utility user of municipal area should pay rent to the civic body, which is normally called roaddigging charge. Normally, it is paid before commencement of the project. But in our case, the BMRC wrote to the BBMP to send us the bill, according to which we are paying. The BBMP has calculated the charges taking into account the entire alignment. Since the BBMP commissioner is also part of the BMRC board, there can be no misunderstanding about this,’’ BMRC managing director N Sivasailam said.
If the project is delayed, the BBMP is likely to charge more. As per the schedule, Reach I of the project is scheduled to be completed by 2010 and the entire 33-km Phase I network by 2011. Work is going on in the East-West corridor — from Cricket Stadium to Byappanahalli — and by August, work on the 9.5-km underground network will begin.
Road-cutting is calculated on the pit size, and road rent is a percentage of guidance value of the area. RULEBOOK
As per the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, any agency which uses municipal areas has to pay the charges
Normally, road-digging charge is collected from the BWSSB, BSNL, telecom operators, OFC players or any other body for digging roads to lay utility lines
Road-cutting charge is calculated as per the pit size — 1 metre length by 1 metre breadth by 1.2 metres depth. The amount varies depending on the quality of the stretch. The deeper the pit is, higher the charges
Road rent is charged for that portion of the road which cannot be used once the project is complete. For instance, once the Metro is complete, the portion underneath the tracks or in between the pillars cannot be used. For such spaces, a percentage of the guidance value will be charged