Land acquisition for Rail Link to begin in August

Land acquisition for Rail Link to begin in August
Praveen Dhaneshkar, June 28,Bangalore:

Land take over for the ambitious High Speed Rail Link (HSRL) project to connect the City centre to the Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) will begin in a month from now.

Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) will issue the preliminary notification in this regard, thereby kickstarting the Rs 6,000 plus crore project.

Sources in the KIADB said, the Bangalore Airport Rail Link Limited (BARL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of the government has given its nod to begin the process.

“The total land to be acquired will be 65.96 hectare. We have identified the properties that would have to part with a small portion of their land. Notable among them are the Bangalore Golf Club, All India Radio and the Visvesvaraya Towers. We have asked the government to first deposit a compensation amount of Rs 104 crore to KIADB, before we take up the land acquisition process forward,” said a source at KIADB.

However, the actual land acquisition process will take at least four to six months to be completed, as the KIADB will have to first await a compensation package report from the BARL.

Sources in BARL said they would adopt the same procedure followed in the land acquisition process of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). “This would have a fair market rate value, based on land prices prevailing along the alignment route,” said a top BARL source.

Once the land notification is approved by the government, at least 1,676 square meters of Golf Course on Sankey Road would have to be acquired. This would include land that runs along the old High Grounds police station route. But, construction of the project will begin only in Jan 2011, as BARL is currently in the process of evaluating the technical bid document or RFQ (Request for Proposal).
Five consortia have been shortlisted to execute the project. They are:
Reliance Infrastructure Limited and CSR Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock Co Ltd, L & T Transco Limited, ITD-ITD Cem Joint Venture (Italian – Thai Development Public Co Ltd & ITD Cementation India Limited), Pioneer Infratech Pvt. Ltd & Siemens Project Ventures, Gmbh and Lanco Infratech Ltd & OHL Concesiones SL.

Golf Club not aware of plan
When Deccan Herald sought response from officials at the Bangalore Golf Club, they said they are not aware of any land acquisition process.
“Let us receive an official notification from the government agency concerned asking us for land. Then we will respond. The BGC elections were held recently, members have just taken over. Any decision of parting with BGC land is not decided by a single person or authority,” said a BGC official.

As per the Detailed Project Report, the suggested route starts from Police Parade Ground and traverses via Cubbon Road, Chowdaiah Road and finally terminates at the airport terminal building.
It will have an elevated double track, one for each direction of travel. It will have a City Airport Terminal (CAT) at the Police Parade Ground with two intermediate stations each - at Hebbal and Yelahanka.
Check-in facilities will also be provided at CAT and Hebbal stations. The total rail length is about 34 kilometres. It is expected to cover the entire distance in less than 25 minutes.
DH News Service