Bengaluru: Defence ready to part with land for Metro

The Namma Metro line from Gottigere to Nagavara (Reach 6) in Phase 2 has received a fillip with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) agreeing to part with 3415.88 square metres of land in Bengaluru for metro stations.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has called for tenders for six stations from Vellara Junction to Pottery Town in two stages.

The land at three planned stations - MG Road, Vellara Junction and Langford Town - belongs to the Ministry of Defence.

A BMRCL official said the arrangement was worked out between Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. However, the MoD is yet to officially communicate this to the public.

“We had held meetings with officials from the defence department to seek permission for the civil work. We were informed that approval from higher-ups was needed. Chief Minister [H D Kumaraswamy] had mentioned the requirement during his recent meeting with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman following which we got an in-principle agreement. We are waiting for official communication,” said BMRCL special land acquisition officer Channappa Goudar.

He said 3415.88 sq mt of defence land was required for the three underground stations and the BMRCL had to compensate for the same with land or money.

Temporary Land and Rent

Goudar said the BMRCL would temporarily taking over land from the Defence Ministry and paying rent to the union government for this.

“We also need 13428.85 sq mt of land temporarily during the civil work. This will be returned to the defence department once construction work is completed. For the temporary acquisition, 7% of the land’s market value is paid as rent. For this, the BMRCL has to pay about Rs 3.62 crore per year,” he said.

The official also explained that rent was considerably lower for private spaces - about 2% of the land’s market value.

“We pay 12% of interest on the compensation, which is calculated from the time of start of work until the day of payment. For government land, as per today’s market value, we have to pay Rs 39.50 crore for acquisition of land for stations,” he said.

The BMRCL had earlier cancelled a tender for a 13.79 km underground line between Dairy Circle and Nagavara after the lowest bidders proved to be too costly.

“As of now, there is no change in the alignment for the line. We are acquiring land as per the original alignment,” he said.