Metro Updates July 2008

(Pics from work on M G Road) 

Bangalore metro updates starting July 2008 under the new head Mr. Sivasailam According to this report in the Hindu by BS Ramesh, the BMRCL has:

... invited tenders for the second reach relating to construction of an elevated viaduct from Mysore Road terminus to Magadi Road and the third reach comprising an elevated section from Yeshwanthpur Terminus to Swastik (Seshadripuram). The estimated cost of construction for the viaduct from Mysore Road to Magadi Road is Rs. 210 crore and successful bidders will be expected to complete it within 27 months from the award of contract. The bids will be opened at the BMRCL office in Shantinagar on August 8. Similarly, the estimated cost of the third reach (from Yeshwanthpur to Swastik) is Rs. 200 crore. The bids will be opened on August 14 and the work is slated to be completed within 27 months from the date of award of contract.

‘’Some major changes are expected in the following week and we hope to make some headway in the project,’’ according to BMRCL officials.

The CMH Road Shops and Establishments Association and residents of the locality had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court seeking re-alignment of the project, hindering it since 2006. The metro rail project, according to BMRCL, has been delayed by nine months mainly due to the litigations. Property owners on CMH Road are yet to give up their holdings that fall on the present alignment, but work on the stretch connecting 100 ft road in Indiranagar with Old Madras Road has already begun. The officials are also confident that litigations over other properties too will be resolved. Plaza theatre on MG Road, which has been notified for housing a metro station is also under litigation. However, senior advocate Pramila Nesargi, who challenged the project on legal grounds and suggested that the project on CMH Road be re-aligned, said: "BMRCL is carrying out some basic work on CMH Road. But they are doing it at their own risk, as the matter is still sub-judice and the next hearing is slated to be held on July 16." President of the CMH Road Shopkeepers and Traders Association Imtiaz Ahmed said that BMRCL considers it to be a trivial issue. He added that the Association would protest if BMRCL starts any work.

Besides these two reaches, BMRCL has also proposed direct pedestrian connectivity between the Metro Station at Byappanahalli and the railway station and also from Old Madras Road. The traffic integration area, where Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) buses would be available, will be situated across the railway tracks. The Byappanahalli station, Mr. Sivasailam says, is likely to have a host of facilities, including easy access points for the physically challenged. The State says the NGEF land across which the Byappanahalli station will come up, will be developed as a major integrated transport centre in Bangalore.