BENGALURU: The much-delayed Namma Metro project requires a technocrat to steer it out of the mess it is in, Metro Man E Sreedharan said here on Tuesday.

" The first advice from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in its detailed project report to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation was to have a technocrat head it. But it was not heeded. An IAS officer will not have the commitment, dedication and accountability of a technocrat in executing the project on time. BMRC has had five IAS officers as chiefs so far. The delay in completing BMRC' s 42-km Phase I network has disappointed the entire country," said Sreedharan, who was in the vanguard of implementing the Delhi Metro, at a media interaction.

Bengaluru was the third city in the country to take up the project in 2003, after Kolkata and New Delhi. While five years is the norm to complete a Metro project, only two stretches – spanning 19.1 km – are operational till now. Phase I is likely to be completed only next year.

Delhi Metro, however, took only four years to start operations on a 10-km network. The 65-km network was functional in seven years and three months; the deadline was 10 years. Sreedharan headed DMRC for 14 years.

The second suggestion ignored by BMRC was to start underground work first. " The nature of these projects is very complex, technically. I suggested they begin with the Majestic station but they didn' t. They took up the easier, elevated sections instead," he said.

Pointing out that even Delhi Metro work was hampered during tunnelling, he said they, however, fixed the problem in 45 days. In Bengaluru, a tunnel boring machine which was stuck took nearly a year to be replaced.

According to him, the delay has escalated Bengaluru Metro cost by 60%. " They have availed costly loans. The services will suffer in future if it becomes an ailing PSU," he added.

" Two experienced technical directors left BMRC last year — BS Sudhir Chandra and DD Pahuja. Losing such men and getting new people with less experience in Metro systems affected BMRC' s growth. I am shocked why the government kept mum," he added.

Sreedharan is also upset with the decision to extend the Metro up to the Kempegowda International Airport. " Citizens would not like to travel such a long distance by the ordinary Metro. DMRC prepared a DPR for a high-speed Metro with just two to three stops and 28 minutes travel time. But the state government gave the project to BMRC, which scrapped it," he said.

Snapped ties for good

BMRC has an ego problem. It thinks it is as big as DMRC, so why should it take advice from the latter? When we said Majestic station will not be ready in time, the then BMRC MD N Sivasailam didn' t like it. He wanted to discontinue with DMRC as their prime consultant. I sensed it and withdrew our association with BMRC for good.

E Sreedharan | former DMRC chief

Upset with govt apathy to high-speed rail

Sreedharan expressed concern over the state government' s apathy to the high-speed rail connectivity proposal to link Bengaluru and Mysuru. He said he floated the idea six years ago but the government didn' t acknowledge his letters. He said a 200-kmph train between the two cities would reduce travel time to 40 minutes. But the government got a Chinese delegation to do a feasibility study, which suggested shelving the costly project. " We are executing such a project between Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur in Kerala. It will not only reduce carbon footprint but also save 1,000 lives that are lost in road accidents every year," he said.

