High speed rail link work on at snail's pace

A conference is scheduled on May 30

Reason:

The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) entrusted to implement the high speed rail link (HSRL) to Devanahalli, the Bangalore Airport Rail Link Limited (BARL) has once again delayed the process (pre-application meet/conference) for interested bidders.

A total of 27 bidders have evinced interest in the project to be implemented through a public-private-partnership (PPP) with a 20 pc viability gap funding (VGF) by Government of India on a ‘Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer’ (DBFOT) basis. A conference for this purpose will be held on May 30. It was originally scheduled to be held on March 25, but was put off with bidders seeking time to study the amended Request For Qualification (RFQ) document, sources in Karnataka State Industrial Investment and Development Corporation (KSIIDC), the nodal agency for the project told Deccan Herald.

The tendering process was held up last year too (September 2008) at the stage of pre-application conference. Later the bidders were asked to send in queries for RFQ by March 16, this year to be followed up by a pre-application meet on March 25. But, with the bidders themselves asking for more time, the KSIIDC had no option but extend it further up to May 30.

However, the KSIIDC is confident that the pre-application conference will be immediately followed up by the sale of the technical bid document. The State govt had accorded its sanction to implement Rs 5,767 crore project on Feb 28, 2009.

But, the actual signing of the concession agreement between the selected bidder and the Government is expected to take place only in January 2010, as the qualified bidder will first have to be shortlisted and then chosen, following Request For Proposal (RFP) and the ‘Letter of Award’ (LOA) to the concessionaire. This process is expected to be completed only in December/January.

City Airport Terminal

BARL aims to provide a faster connectivity to BIA from the City Centre, M G Road via Cubbon Road, T Chowdiah Road, Ramana Maharishi Road and Bellary Road, with the corridor after Hebbal to be positioned 22.5 meters from the median on the existing NH 7.
It will have a City Airport Terminal at the Police Parade Grounds, opp BRV and supported by two intermediate stations - at Hebbal and Yelahanka.The total rail length is about 34 kilometres, with the HSRL expected to cover the distance to BIA in less than 25 minutes, once operational. HSRL would be further integrated with the Metro Rail at Minsk Square station (Phase 2) of ‘Namma Metro’ at Yelahnaka and a proposed Mono Rail at Hebbal later.