Bangalore Metro
"There is no effort from the government to crack the whip on BMRC, whose bosses haven't made any extra efforts to chase contractors and get work done. For the contractors, Metro work is a learning process. They make mistakes and redo the work. Estimates have fallen short on the ground and added to the cost. Flawed contracts with incomplete work details have pushed up bills," the sources explained.
Metro misses September 2015 deadline, delay costs BMRC
Rs 2.3 crore a day
BENGALURU: The confidence that chief minister Siddaramaiah displayed last year while announcing that Namma Metro would be up and running on all its Phase I corridors by September 2015 was, after all, gas. Going by the progress of work, there is no sign Bengaluru's ambitious mass rapid transit system will be completely operational any time this year.
Failure to adhere to the CM's promise is not just about convenient travel eluding Bengalureans, but also about crores of rupees of taxpayers' money going down the drain due to cost escalation. The approved cost estimate of the 42-km network was Rs 11,609 crore, and the target for getting the entire phase operational was December 2012. But project cost estimates, as in May 2014 and for September 2015 completion, stand at Rs 13,845 crore, up Rs 2,236 crore. This means each day's delay has cost Rs 2.3 crore.
The blame for the delay lies as much with the state government as with Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL). The state government is accused of not cracking the whip on BMRC for failing to meet deadlines. Sources privy to the progress of work told TOI the BMRC management has not expedited the project, and meeting public expectations is the least of its priorities.
The delay has meant that costs have shot up under all heads. When the project was conceived, the land cost was estimated around Rs 500 crore, but now stands at Rs 2,100 crore. The cost of raw material has also shot up. Steel, which cost BMRC Rs 40,000 a tonne till last year, is now Rs 55,000 a tonne. Similarly, copper, purchased by the corporation at Rs 1 lakh per tonne, now costs Rs 3-4 lakh per tonne.
Ramalinga Reddy, minister-in-charge, Bengaluru said, "By 2015-end, BMRC will definitely finish Phase I of the project. In the past two months, the chief minister has made several inspections and held talks for expediting work. BMRC has promised that by March 2015, the Mysore Road end will be connected, and by the year-end, the entire Phase I will be up and running." We will keep the date (September 2015). Pradeep Singh Kharola, MD, BMRC had said, "There are hurdles in the work that I will have to explain in detail to make one understand why work seems to have slowed down."
Missed deadlines:
December 2012
December 2013
March 2015
September 2015
Times View
Bengaluru's Phase I of Namma Metro can't keep mising its deadline
Bengaluru needs Phase I of Namma Metro in its entirety and fast. When the BMRC failed to keep its deadline to launch the first stretch in March/April 2011, TOI launched a 'We Need A Date' campaign in July. Three months later, Namma Metro began commercial operations on the MG Road-Byappanahalli route, providing the city a taste of what a rapid mass transit system is capable of.
Over three years down the line, the Metro is operational only on one more stretch: Sampige Road to Peenya. The two stretches on which the Metro operates span only about 16km of the 42.3km that Phase I is slated to cater to. On an average, the two stretches ferry 50,000 people daily against the targeted 10 lakh passengers.
Phase I has already eluded two deadlines — December 2012 and December 2013 — and looks certain to miss the timelines of March and September 2015.
Given Bengaluru's requirement of a full-fledged rapid mass transit system, TOI resumes its 'We Need a Date' campaign to mobilize public opinion, and to pressure authorities to get the train running in all the four directions of the city at the earliest. In the coming days, we shall carry a series of reports on the various factors delaying Namma Metro and suggest ways to speed up the project.
Pigeons droppings, a costly bomb on Namma Metro
Keeping the stations clean in the first year cost Namma Metro Rs 8.89 lakh a month. It shot up by nearly Rs 2.5 lakh to over Rs 10 lakh a month the next two years.
BENGALURU: With concrete jungle robbing them of their habitat, pigeons seem to be making metro stations their home. And this is proving costly for Namma Metro as support staff has to hit the ground almost every hour to clear bird poop from platforms and other areas.
As the winged visitors ensconce themselves in the supporting structures of the stations, bird droppings have contributed to an increase in the operating expenses of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).
An RTI query filed by STOI revealed a near 30% increase in the annual housekeeping charges of Namma Metro's stations in its second and third years of operation. In a reply to the RTI query on whether bird droppings posed problems to maintenance of its stations, BMRCL said, "Yes, it is posing problems."
"High-level cleaning (is) being done for maintaining cleanliness," it added.
House-keeping charges for Reach 1 (Baiyapanahalli-MG Road) was Rs 106.71 lakh in the first year of its operation (Oct 2011 - Sept 2012), which rose to Rs130.7 lakh the next year (October 2012 - September 2013) and Rs 128.16 lakh (October 2013 - September 2014).
In other words, keeping the stations clean in the first year cost Namma Metro Rs 8.89 lakh a month. It shot up by nearly Rs 2.5 lakh to over Rs 10 lakh a month the next two years.
According to work staff, they used to clean the platforms once every two hours; of late they have been constrained to wield their mop-sticks on an hourly basis.
M B Krishna, a veteran ornithologist, says concrete structures such as Namma Metro's stations aren't favourable nesting spots to bird associated with the city. "What is the point if hardly a bird species or two reside here?" he says when asked whether such structures could help support their eco-system.
As the winged visitors ensconce themselves in the supporting structures of the stations, bird droppings have contributed to an increase in the operating expenses of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).
An RTI query filed by STOI revealed a near 30% increase in the annual housekeeping charges of Namma Metro's stations in its second and third years of operation. In a reply to the RTI query on whether bird droppings posed problems to maintenance of its stations, BMRCL said, "Yes, it is posing problems."
"High-level cleaning (is) being done for maintaining cleanliness," it added.
House-keeping charges for Reach 1 (Baiyapanahalli-MG Road) was Rs 106.71 lakh in the first year of its operation (Oct 2011 - Sept 2012), which rose to Rs130.7 lakh the next year (October 2012 - September 2013) and Rs 128.16 lakh (October 2013 - September 2014).
In other words, keeping the stations clean in the first year cost Namma Metro Rs 8.89 lakh a month. It shot up by nearly Rs 2.5 lakh to over Rs 10 lakh a month the next two years.
According to work staff, they used to clean the platforms once every two hours; of late they have been constrained to wield their mop-sticks on an hourly basis.
M B Krishna, a veteran ornithologist, says concrete structures such as Namma Metro's stations aren't favourable nesting spots to bird associated with the city. "What is the point if hardly a bird species or two reside here?" he says when asked whether such structures could help support their eco-system.
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