'Steel flyover, KIA Metro won't clash'

The contentious steel flyover will not clash with the new Metro line to the Kempegowda International Airport, Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara said on Friday.

“Neither the steel flyover nor the existing flyover near Esteem Mall in Hebbal will clash with the Metro line,” Parameshwara told reporters, a day after the Cabinet cleared the new alignment for the Metro line to the airport via Hebbal.

“There are some pipelines in RK Hegde Nagar that would have come in the way of the Metro line. Also, there are residential properties there. That’s why we are taking the Metro line via Hebbal now,” he explained.

The government would make public all details related to the proposed steel flyover connecting Basaveshwara (Chalukya) Circle and Hebbal. The project intends to decongest the airport route.

“The high court hasn’t asked us not to go ahead with the project. We have been asked to get environmental clearance, which we will follow,” he said.

EIB loan for Metro

The European Investment Bank (EIB) on Friday signed an agreement with the state government to lend Rs 1,700 crore (Euro 200 million) for the Gottigere-Nagavara (Reach-6) under Phase 2 of the Metro project. This is the second tranche of a Euro 500 million loan for the project.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Parameshwara and EIB director Maria Shaw-Barragan were present.

“The EIB has agreed to invest about Rs 3,800 crore (Euro 500 million) for the Metro Phase-2 project at low-interest rates. We will explore more opportunities to engage with the EIB for other infrastructure projects of Bengaluru,” he said.

Parameshwara said the EIB’s investment was “testimony to the fact that the Congress-JD(S) coalition was stable.”

He said no financial institution would make investments if the government was unstable or if the political atmosphere was not conducive. “This is a message to detractors and critics.”