'Metro underground work behind schedule'

'Metro underground work behind schedule'
Bangalore, DHNS:

The commencement of work pertaining to the underground stretch of the ‘Namma Metro’ project is six and a half months behind schedule, said N Sivasailam, managing director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at a felicitation function organised to celebrate Engineers Day here, the BMRCL chief said, civil engineers with expertise in cutting edge technology is not forthcoming, due to which work on the underground stretch that was to have begun six-and-a-half months ago is delayed.

“Engineers will have to be sourced from abroad. We do not have the necessary manpower in India equipped with the nature of technology required for this,” Sivasailam added.

At present, the BMRCL has begun preparatory barricading work on the underground stretch in front of the Vidhana Soudha and Dr B R Ambedkar Veedhi, as a prelude to actual earth excavation that is expected to begin early next year (2010). Tunnel boring machines are being imported by the BMRCL for this purpose.

Sivasailam also said civil engineers also need to better understand the nuances of tooling involved in carrying out underground tunnelling.

The underground section runs from Swastik to K R Road and Cricket Stadium to Magadi Road.