suburban rail project

Railway Board

suburban stations

The delay is only adding more private vehicles on the road. Not implementing suburban rail project is the biggest failure of the city –Srinivas Alavilli, Citizens for Bengaluru, co-founder

Bengaluru

Prime Minister

The Board was expected to provide 20% of the project cost, but has now instructed K-RIDE to monetise the railway landThe hurdles for thedo not seem to end. The, which was expected to provide 20% of the Rs 18,611 crore project cost, has now instructed the Karnataka Railway Infrastructure Development Corporation (K-RIDE) to raise its share of funds by monetising the railway land.As per the original plan, the state government and the Railway Board had agreed to provide 20% each of total project cost, currently estimated to be at Rs 18,611 crore. The K-RIDE, tasked with implementing the project, was given the responsibility to raise the remaining 60% through different means including long-term loans.Now, the Board has expressed inability to provide Rs 3,722 crore towards the 148-km suburban rail project but extended support to the Railway authorities in Karnataka to monetise 600-acres of land. The Board believes the land is worth at least Rs 5,000 crore, which is enough for implementing the much-delayed proposal. Amit Garg, Managing Director at K-RIDE, however, did not elaborate on the communication received from the Railway Board. “It’s definitely possible,” he said, responding to a query on the possibility of monetising the land for implementing the project.A senior official in the Railways said they are now asking the Board to provide 10% of Rs 3,722 crore (Rs 372 crore) to kick-start the project. “While the process of monetising the land is possible, it will take some time. The process of commercially exploiting the assets is time-consuming. We have asked the Railways to provide viability gap funding,” he said.Currently, the project consists of four railway corridors and 57, and is awaiting approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEB). The K-RIDE is also going slow with setting up a team of experts to carry out the project as it’s not getting clearances as fast as it expected.Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder of Citizens forsaid, “The delay is only adding more private vehicles on the road. Not implementing suburban rail project is the biggest failure of the city. It connects employment-generating places such as Electronic City and the Outer Ring Road. If Mumbai and Chennai can have it, why not us? The Railways needs to be decentralised,” he said.On Thursday, the citizen group launched a Twitter campaign #ChukuBukuCabinetClearanceBeku to get the attention ofNarendra Modi, who is in the state on a two-day visit.