Metro to explore PPP model with BDA and NICE

The BMRCL is set to explore a public-private partnership model (PPP) with BDA and NICE for construction of Metro on Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) and the NICE Road, respectively.

The Urban Development Department has told the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to prepare a feasibility report on the same following a suggestion made by S Mohandas Hedge, former secretary, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

The proposal for Metro on PRR and NICE Road is not new. But Hegde, who wrote to the additional chief secretary of the department last month, has pitched for the PPP model as an instrument that can deliver Metro to the commuters at the earliest.

The city will get its second Metro ring sooner under this plan. Among the advantages cited in the proposal is the PPP's ability to reduce the burden of foreign loan.

Besides BDA, "NICE may also be entrusted with on hybrid annuity basis", the department's letter suggests.

A part of the first Metro ring will be completed under Phase 2A between KR Puram and Silk Board junction. Tenders for the construction of the elevated stretch are under consideration.

The government also proposes to complete the remaining stretches of the Outer Ring Road under Phase 3.