Bangalore Metro phase-1 to open by December

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited will commence trial runs on the Reach 2 of East-West Corridor by Feb-end

The much-awaited Namma Metro or Bangalore Metro will be commissioned for public use by December 2015, after about two years of delay. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) will commence trial runs on the Reach 2 of East-West Corridor between M G Road and Mysore Road by the end of February, a top official said.

“We will commence the trial runs on Reach-2 by the end of February and open it for public use by end of June. The track-laying work is progressing fast and 3.6 kms of work has been completed out of 4.7 kms of underground section on the corridor,” Pradeep Singh Kharola, Managing Director, BMRCL said.

Addressing members of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), here today, he said the BMRCL is hopeful of completing the work on the entire 42.3 kms of Phase-1 of Bangalore Metro by December and open it to commercial use.

He said, the cost of phase-1 has gone up 19 per cent to Rs 13,800 crore as against the earlier estimates of Rs 11,609 crore due to the delays in the completion of civil works. About 50 per cent of the project cost is in the form of equity from both state and central governments in the ratio of 25:25 and the remaining 50 per cent is borrowed from banks and multi-lateral agencies.

All works will be completed on the East-West corridor and will be opened to public by November this year. The North-South corridor will be completed by December this year, he said.

The problem is of the City Market to Chikpet and Sampige Road to Majestic sections. One of the three tunnel-boring machines has sustained a damage and the rock-cutter weighing 70 tonnes is being imported from Italy in a month or two, he said.

However, the corporation has more or less completed the tunnel-boring work and a very small portion has been hampered by the breakdown of a machine, he said.

Kharola said, the corporation would award tenders for the civil works for the second phase within three months and the work would commence during the middle of this year. The second phase will have 72.1 kms and 60 stations. It will cost around Rs 26,405 crore, he said.

The BMRCL has also commenced a feasibility study for the third phase of Namma Metro, which will include a new corridor up to the international airport, Kharola added.