Bangalore Metro to float eight package tenders for Silk Board to KIA line

Bengaluru (Urban Transport News): After clearing tenders for the construction of the underground corridor under phase 2 of Bangalore Metro Rail Project, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRC) is now preparing tender documents for execution of much-awaited Silk Board-KIA Metro line. As the deadline for completing the Silk Board-Kempegowda International Airport  (KIA) Metro line project is set for 2023, the BMRC has divided the work into eight segments.

Tenders for the construction of the Silk Board-KIA Metro line are likely to be floated by first week of November this year. According to BMRC officials, the entire project will be completed through eight package tenders. The Silk Board-KR Puram line (Phase 2A) will be executed in three packages while the KR Puram-KIA line (Phase 2B) will be implemented in five packages. Ajay Seth, Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, said:

It is a 56-km-long line. We have submitted the tender documents to the Asian Development Bank and are awaiting their nod. We are not going to float the tenders at one go, but once in three months in two to three packages.

Previous efforts

Last year in February, the Bangalore Metro had floated tenders for the construction of 17-km long stretch from Silk Board to KR Puram (Outer Ring Road) but the same was canceled. The reasons cited by the corporation were a delay in land acquisition, failure to raise funds to implement the project and low bids by the crisis-hit IL&FS.

Current development

According to officials, for Silk Board to KR Puram (ORR) line a total of 85 properties covering over 40,000 sqm of land have been identified. The BMRC is in the process of paying compensation to the property owners. The corporation hopes to complete to acquisition by the end of October. However, land acquisition for KR Puram-KIA stretch (Phase 2B) is far from complete. The state government has issued a preliminary notification for the other properties on the stretch to acquire the land required for Hebbal metro station. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) agrees to provide 1.05 lakh sqm of land to BMRC from Hebbal to the trumpet interchange on NH 44.

Changes in the previous plan

Earlier, the BMRC had planned to build a road-cum-metro flyover between KR Puram station and Kasturinagar to ease the traffic congestion on Old Madras Road. But now it has been decided to drop the plan as it is not feasible. However, the BMRC has planned to widen existing roads on the stretch. As per the new plan, the corporation will build two lines one from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield and another from KR Puram to KIA on a stretch of Old Madras Road.

Two metro stations will be built inside the Kempegowda International Airport campus providing access to Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. “We will have an arrangement with Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). We will build the metro stations. After the line is commissioned, BIAL will collect the User Development Fee (UDF) fixed by the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA), and the same will get transferred to the BMRCL", said Ajay Seth, MD, BMRC.