The Hindu : Bangalore metro rail project on the track

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 19, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Bangalore metro rail project on the track

By Our Staff Reporter

The Union Minister for Urban Development, Ananth Kumar (right), inspecting the lightweight coaches meant for Delhi Metro Rail at BEML in Bangalore on Friday. The BEML Chairman and MD, V.R.S.Natarajan, is seen. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE April 18. The Centre will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka Government within a month on the Metro Rail Project for Bangalore.

"Metro Rail is on the move, and I am confident it will take off by November this year. It will connect 33 km. of the City and will be ready in five years," the Union Minister for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation, Ananth Kumar, said here today.

He was inspecting the metro rail coaches, meant for the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) project, at BEML.

He told presspersons that he had requested the Chief Minister, S.M. Krishna, to set up a special task force to monitor day-to-day work of the project. The project would have North-South (Peenya to Banashankari) and East-West (Mysore Road to K.R.Puram) corridors with surface, underground, and elevated tracks.

The Minister said he and Mr. Krishna would meet top officials of DMRC in 15 days in Delhi to discuss the modalities of the project. The MoU would be signed after that.

To a question, Mr. Ananth Kumar said there were plans to privatise Bangalore Metro Rail project. "The Japanese Bank of International Co-operation is funding the DMRC at a 2 per cent rate of interest. Similarly, we will try to get funds from foreign banks for the Bangalore project. The State has earmarked Rs. 74 crores in its budget this year and the Centre is yet to decide on its investment. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be set up to raise funds," he said.

The Rs. 4,000-crore project was expected to reduce traffic density by 40 to 50 per cent. Similar projects would be taken up in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, he said.

Earlier, the Union minister inspected work on metro rail coaches at BEML, where 180 high-speed lightweight stainless steel rail coaches were being assembled with technology assistance from Rotem in Korea. He said BEML would be given contracts to make 60 more coaches for DMRC. He lauded BEML for its tie-up with the Konkan Railway Corporation to manufacture sky-bus for Goan Metro Rail project. The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, would inaugurate the project in Goa by this month end. The first phase of the project was likely to be completed in 18 months, he added.

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