Barricade on M.G. Road to be removed by March

Barricade on M.G. Road to be removed by March

Staff Reporter

Phase I of Metro project to be completed by June 2012

Tendering process for civil works to be completed by year-end

Metro work will not affect bus passengers

at Majestic

BANGALORE: Come March 2009, you can drive smoothly on Mahatma Gandhi Road, for the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) has promised to remove the barricade by then.

Elements for the elevated corridor between Anil Kumble Circle and Trinity Circle under Reach 1 of Namma Metro’s Phase 1 will be placed in eight months, according to BMRCL Managing Director N. Sivasailam.

Speaking to presspersons here on Saturday, Mr. Sivasailam said the barricade would be removed after the elements were placed.

Elements would be placed on CMH Road in the next eight months, he added.

Attempting to answer Bangaloreans’ concern over the delay in completion of the project, Mr. Sivasailam said the entire Phase I would be in place by June 2012 instead of December 2011.

Tendering process for all civil works, including underground stations and tunnelling, would be complete by the end of the year.

Though BMRCL was confident of completing the entire Phase I as per the earlier schedule , it had extended the deadline a little keeping in mind any unforeseen happenings, he said.
Deadlines

Mr. Sivasailam gave different deadlines for commencing and completing civil and other works on different reaches and said everything should be over by June 2012.

To a question on the long time for completion of the underground section, B.S. Sudhir Chandra, Director (Projects and Planning), said that unlike the elevated corridor, construction of an underground corridor needed a whole lot of pre-construction investigation.

Apart from routine soil test, various other tests, including effect on water table, effect on buildings and other tests had to be carried out.

Once the work commenced, it would be completed in 26 months and seven more months were needed for laying tracks and construction of stations.

On the proposed Majestic Metro Station, Mr. Sivasailam said the work would not affect KSRTC and BMTC passengers, though the station would comes within the KSRTC premises. BMRCL had already submitted the design plan to KSRTC.

The stations at Majestic — crossover between North-South and East-West corridors — would have two levels. While the North-South corridor station would be 20 metres below the ground, the East-West corridor would be 14 metres below the ground, he said.

Director (Rolling Stock, Signalling and Electric) D.D. Pahuja and other officials were present.