Bengaluru: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) has started acquiring properties for the construction of Namma Metro’s Outer Ring Road (ORR) line from Silk Board to K.R. Puram. The government has issued notification for acquisition of land and properties for the BMRCL project. The BMRCL needs 39,300 sq. m of land to build the 17-km line with 13 stations. The project, which has been taken up under Phase II-A , is estimated to cost ?4,200 crore.
As the metro train to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) will originate from here, the building of this stretch is very crucial.Last year, the BMRCL had cancelled the tender for construction of the line citing various reasons, including difficulty in taking possession of land, raising funds, and lower bid made by crisis-hit IL&FS.
The BMRCL has paid ?86 crore to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for providing 9,759 sq. m of land for construction of metro stations at HSR Layout, Agara, Doddanekundi, and Silk Board.
A BMRCL official said, “Unlike other metro lines, the number of properties required for the construction of this line is very minimum. We have identified 89 properties out of which 47 are private ones. There are properties of civic agencies such as BDA, BBMP and BWSSB. We have paid compensation to the BDA for acquiring land at various points.” The BMRCL is also acquiring properties from organisations such as ISRO to build stations.
The BMRCL has also identified a government school building for demolition to build a station at Iblur. Around 200 children are studying in the Kannada-medium school. The BMRCL requires 374 sq. m of the school land to build the station.
BMRCL officials said in the interest of students, they will construct a new building and acquire a total of 674 sq. m of land. The additional land would be handed over to the school, they said.
Ajay Seth, Managing Director, BMRCL, speaking to The Hindu said, “The BMRCL will provide more land to the school than we are acquiring for the metro work. We are going to acquire additional land located adjacent to the school building. The existing school building will be demolished after relocating the school to a new building built by the BMRCL. If needed, the BMRCL will also facilitate a rented space for running the school.”
‘We are in talks with tech park to raise funds’
As per the BMRCL’s innovative financing initiative, Embassy Group, Intel Technology, and Prestige Group have tied up with it to build metro stations at three locations on the Outer Ring Road line from Silk Board to K.R. Puram.
Mr. Seth, said BMRCL was in talks with Bagmane Tech Park to raise funds for construction and maintenance of a metro station on the line. The companies will contribute ?100 crore each for construction of the metro stations in instalments, and their names will be pre-fixed with the station’s names.
The companies will be offered 3,000-sq. ft space at the station for 30 years for retail purposes; advertisement space of 1,000 sq. ft for the same period; and direct access from the concourse/platform to the campus/premises for 99 years.
