Phase 2 deadline extended; cost likely to increase to ₹32,000 crore

The State government has decided to place the issue of connecting the metro rail to Kempegowda International Airport before the cabinet in the next 15 days. Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, on Friday held discussions with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), and said this would be done after finalising the cost, funding resource, and duration of the project.

However, the alignment is yet to be fixed. Last December, the State government had approved the Detailed Project Report (DPR) to extend the metro by 29.8 km from Nagawara to KIA via R.K. Hegde Nagar and Jakkur at an estimated cost of ₹5,950 crore. However, the BMRCL later found out that the alignment was very close to a petroleum pipeline. Officials are now contemplating running the metro via Hebbal. They will be submitting this alternative plan to the government.

“Building an elevated metro line between R.K. Hegde Nagar and Jakkur is not feasible. To expedite the project, we will submit a report in a week with an alternate alignment. Necessary clearance will be sought from the State and central government as well,” said Ajay Seth, Managing Director, BMRCL.

For BMRCL it’s back to the drawing board, as the Hebbal-KIA route was one of nine initial alignments it had proposed in 2016 during public consultations. At the time, the BMRCL had estimated the cost at ₹4,656 crore.

The cost of Namma Metro Phase 2 is likely to increase from the estimate of ₹26,405 crore to ₹32,000 crore while the deadline for some lines has been extended. The Gottigere-Nagavara (Reach 6) line would be completed in 2023.

The Kengeri line (Reach 2 extension) and Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) line (Reach 3 extension) would be completed by 2020.

Mr. Parameshwara instructed BMRCL to cut expenditure on manpower, which constitutes about 34% of the total operational cost. The corporation has been incurring a monthly expenditure of ₹24 crore against revenue of ₹30 crore.