Metro stumped by Bommai's December 2023 deadline for airport line

Metro authorities are stumped by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's oral statement on the floor of the House that the Bengaluru airport would be linked to the metro by "December 2023".

Bommai announced the deadline on Thursday while orally responding to a question asked by Congress MLC K Govindaraju. But his written reply stated that the specified date for the completion of the 58-km Silk Board-KR Puram-airport metro line is June 2026.

While Rakesh Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, did not comment on the December 2023 deadline, he said the chief minister had been trying to expedite the airport line because land acquisition had been completed.

Also Read: Namma Metro to acquire 1 more acre of private land for Pink Line

A highly placed source in the government insisted that the December 2023 deadline was "achievable".

BMRCL managing director Anjum Parwez declined to comment on the chief minister's statement but stressed that the project deadline approved by the government of India was June 2026.

Two well-placed sources in the BMRCL expressed surprise at the December 2023 deadline and described it as "impossible". One of them said: "I don't know who gave that input. I don't know on what basis he (CM) said that. As of now, we are targeting June 2026."

Progress on the ground supports this assessment. As of December 29, 2022, civil work on the 58-km line was just 22% complete. For context, work on the airport line started only in December 2021.

While 96% of the land needed for the 38.44-km KR Puram-airport line has been acquired, M S Channappagoudar, General Manager (Land Acquisition), BMRCL, said that some structures near the Yelahanka airbase needed to be shifted.

A further three acres have to be acquired for the Shettigere depot, he said. A depot is where all trains are stabled and maintained at night. BMRCL has opened technical bids for the Shettigere depot and sent them to the Asian Development Bank, which is funding the project. Financial bids will be called next year and work will start only after that.

The Shettigere depot need not be ready to open the airport metro line. BMRCL is modifying an existing depot at Baiyappanahalli so that it can run trains to the airport in the meantime, Channappagoudar said.

Asked whether the airport line would open next December, he replied in the negative. "December 2023 is not possible. We may complete the civil work by then. But there will be track-laying, traction and signalling works, which will take another year," he explained, adding the line could be ready only by December 2024.

Govindaraju, the MLC, said the reason why he raised the question in the House was the cost escalation concern. "I suggested that the metro be expedited to save taxpayers' money." On the contradiction in the CM's written and oral replies, he said he would bring the matter to the government's notice and raise the issue again.