Namma Metro’s projects Phase II-A (Central Silk Board to KR Puram) and Phase II-B (KR Puram to the Kempegowda International Airport), covering a total of 58.19 km has been approved by The Metropolitan Planning Committee (MPC)..
The approval came months after the Centre approved the project and nearly two years after the state government’s nod.
However, why the committee decided to meet on Monday to approve these projects when the MPC’s approval is needed during the conceptualisation of a project and not after the approval by two governments, is yet to be ascertained.
Sources said that the meeting was called to discuss tenders and land acquisition issues. It is said that Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had given his consent to issue work orders to Shankaranarayana Constructions and Afcons Infrastructure Limited, the lowest bidders for the Phase II-A project. Meanwhile, the last date to issue tenders for the Phase II-B project was postponed recently.
The cost of the two projects is estimated to be Rs 14,788.10 crore and they are expected to be completed in five years. When Phases II-A & II-B are fully operational, with the Metro Corridor, Bengaluru will have 172 kilometres of Metro Rail network, approximately.
The BMRCL plans to raise Rs 850 crore from the station naming and access rights to firms and Rs 800 crore by monetisation of assets at the airport. It also hopes to raise Value Capture Financing (VCF) of Rs 250 crore via the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) mechanism.
