The cost of the second phase of the Bengaluru Metro network, which stretches for 75.06 km, has ballooned to nearly Rs 40,000 crore, a 52% increase from the original estimate proposed in 2014.
Initially, the project was sanctioned in 2014 for a 72-km stretch at a cost of Rs 26,405 crore, targeted to be completed by 2019. Three more kilometers were later added, taking the cost to Rs 30,695 crore by 2021. Notably, the Outer Ring Road line in Phase 2A and the Airport Line from KR Pura to KIA in Phase 2B are not included.
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) recently sent a revised cost proposal to the state finance department to approve the Urban Development Department (UDD).
UDD officials said the BMRCL proposal has been sent to the finance department for approval. A senior official said the original delay was the main reason for the cost overrun. He said Phase II was to be completed by 2019. The entire network is not fully ready even after five years. The pandemic hit before the original deadline. Had it been followed, there would not have been such a huge increase. He also said delays in initial land acquisition hampered the pace of the project to a great extent.
A BMRCL official said the Reach-2 extension, which was earlier planned to terminate at Kengeri, has been extended to Challaghatta. Besides, a new depot has been built in the eastern part of Kadugodi (Whitefield).’
The acquisition of 128.36 hectares of additional land outside the original plan has raised the compensation value to nearly Rs 6,300 crore (an increase of Rs 438 crore). “We have acquired 128.36 hectares of land as against the originally planned 84.33 hectares,” he told the Economic Times.
BMRCL has also widened roads from Baiyappanahalli to Kadugodi and Yelachenahalli to Silk Institute. Additional land was also acquired for the Reach-5 line (R V Road-Bommasandra).
The proposal, after getting approval from the state finance department, will have to be sent to the Centre’s urban development department for final approval.
