The second phase of the Bangalore Metro project has been cleared by the expenditure finance committee (EFC) for an amount of Rs.26,405.14 crore, two government officials said. A senior urban development ministry official who did not want to be named said the clearance came in August.
The Bangalore Metro project is being executed by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL), a special purpose vehicle jointly owned by the Union government and the Karnataka government. The first phase was cleared in 2006.
According to the detailed project report (DPR), phase II will have six lines, with a total length of 72km. One will be an arterial line from Gottigere to Nagavara (in the southern part of Bangalore), to be built at a cost of Rs.11,014 crore, with 13.79km of it being underground.
A second new line, from R.V. Road to Bommasandra (both in the south Bangalore), will cost of Rs.5,744.09 crore. The other four will be extensions of lines from phase I. “The completion period for all lines of phase-II will be 5 to 6 years from the date of approval by government of India,” the project report says.
Urban development minister Kamal Nath, while flagging off the first phase of the Metro in October 2011, said that the approval for the second phase would also come about soon.
But a recent report by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation pointed out that delays in execution had cost the government an additional Rs.5,214 crore. While the initial estimated cost was Rs.6,395 crore, it was later revised to Rs.11,609 crore.
S.K. Manglik, senior consultant at the Institute of Urban Transport in Delhi, said urban transport had been neglected for many years. “Unfortunately this sector had a low priority in the past. It is in the last 10-15 years that there has been a boost in this sector because of the Delhi Metro,” he said.
“The phase II will not have PPP (public private partnership) component. It will be funded by equity and debt. The four extensions to phase I will be completed by 2017 and the 2 new lines by 2019,” said a Bangalore Metro official requesting anonymity.
over 15 lakh houses for urban poor to be built: PM
Chandigarh: Noting that rapid urbanisation has led to the problem of growing slums in cities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the Centre plans to construct over 15 lakh houses for the urban poor.
Inaugurating a Rs2,400-crore housing project for slum dwellers on the outskirts of the city, Singh said he expects Chandigarh to become the first slum-free city in the country.
“I believe such important projects will give a new dimension to the country in its journey for becoming a a developed nation,” he said.
Rapid increase in urban population would put immense pressure on urban infrastructure in next couple of years, the Prime Minister said, adding the the urban population in the country was going to increase by 22 crore in next 20 years.
“The pace of urbanisation in India is going very fast. In 1971, the urban population was 11 crore. In last 40 years till the year 2011, the strength in urban population went up by 27 crore. It is estimated that its strength will go up by 22 crore in next 20 years,” Singh said.
Increase in urban population will put immense pressure on country’s urban infrastructure. “Our growing slums in cities present a picture of the kind of problems arise because of urbanisation,” he noted.
He said that the strength of people living in slums was estimated to grow from 10 crore to 10.4 crore by 2017.
The Prime Minister said a sum of Rs41,000 crore is expected to be invested for setting up 15.6 lakh houses under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme (JNNURM) scheme.
“Till now since the inception of JNNURM, 15.6 lakh houses have been approved to be developed and for which Rs41,000 crore of investment is expected to be invested,” he said.
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