Bengalureans would have loved to see Namma Metro chug at a faster pace but that’s not happening with the mammoth project missing many a deadline. Lack of coordination in the department and inability to meet deadlines is to blame for BMRCL's poor execution of the project. City residents were hoping Phase 1 would ease their traffic woes. But that’s not on the cards this year nor has last mile connectivity been addressed. Ranjani Madhavan and Shwetha Satyanarayan report
Missing deadlines has become quite a habit for Namma Metro. So it came as little surprise to Bengalureans when they learnt recently that Phase I will take another few months to complete. Expected to be ready in November this year, it could now be completed only by April 2017. Trying to gloss over the delay, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah promised phase I of the world class rail network will be established with a monthly time- bound schedule and also assured the BMRCL had been asked to finish Phase 2 ahead of schedule.
But what has caused the fresh delay? Ask BMRCL Managing Director, Pradeep Singh Kharola and he blames it on the old buildings in the Chickpet area developing cracks while the Metro Rail work was underway. “We cannot do this in bits. Unless that is dealt with the whole of the line cannot be completed,” he explained, however, adding that the BMRCL would soon start work on the new Outer Ring Road Stretch to connect Silk Board to KR Puram. “This is a parallel activity, which can go on,” he said.
For his part, BMRCL's Chief Public Relations Officer, Vasanth Rao, says the presence of hard rock underground has come in the way of the tunnel boring machines completing their job. “We cannot run the TBM continuously due to the hard rock it encounters. We have to intervene and stop it for a day or two at times, or else the cutter could wear out,” he explained, adding, “If we just hurry up and construct a part, some people living nearby might lose their water or power supply. We cannot drill faster as it could affect the people and their houses nearby.”
As for the High Court appointed Tree Committee ,which was supposed to look into the tree cutting required for the Metro, he claimed it had not been able to meet for the last two months as the BBMP was busy with a lot of other issues such as the demolitions to clear the encroachments over the Storm Water Drains in the city.
Buit urban expert, Ashwin Mahesh, has his own take on the issue, He believes there is lack of operational efficiency in the BMRCL. “ These are not normal processes and procurements. They need to be thought of on a bigger scale. Inter departmental co-ordination is weak and someone at a high level should oversee this,” he maintained.
In his view none of the officials involved had sufficient scientific and engineering background to head the project. “ Tell me who in the BMRCL is an actual tunnel boring expert or a long term finance planner? They have taken existing government employees who have worked in many other projects and placed them here, but this requires capacity and knowledge,” he argued.
Metro’s many misses
Reach 1 (Baiyappanahalli to M G Road) was scheduled to begin operations in March 2010. But instead it missed several
deadlines - December 31, 2010, April 4, 2011, September 15, 2011 and September 26, 2011, before it finally opened to the public on October 20, 2011.
Reach 2 received clearance to start services from September 21, 2015, but opened only on November 16, 2015.
And now Phase 1of the Metro, which should have been completed by December 2015, is expected to become fully operational only by April 2017.
Focus on the BMTC, increase its reach, say urban experts
While the focus remains on Namma Metro, some urban experts believe the government has its priorities wrong and should be doing more to strengthen the BMTC, which ferries over five million passengers every day even now and opt for a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) to ease traffic conditions in the city.
Noting that the government has clearly favoured Namma Metro over BRTS, Mapunity founder, Ashwin Mahesh, says it has overlooked the city's existing infrastructure in the process. “For instance, when it had to decide on the public transport between Hebbal and Silk Board, it chose the Metro. But it forgot that there is already a railway line that runs not far from Electronic City, IT companies on Sarjapur Road, Marathahalli, KR Puram, and Manyata Tech Park. If we really believe that train is the right choice, why not run trains on these tracks? They are hardly used, and with a little commitment from the government, could become operational quickly,” he contended.
Also pointing out that bus services cost only 1/6th of the train option, and are much easier to operate, he wonders why the government has choosen an ultra-expensive alternative like the Metro, which is taking forever to build.
Gubbi Labs director, Dr. Sudhira too believes public investment in transportation should be bus-based as the BMTC will continue to have a far bigger reach than the Metro, even when fully operational. “If the government pumps the same kind of money into the BMTC, it will help a lot more people with their commuting. If smaller buses operate to periphery areas where there is no last mile connectivity and the roads are narrower, a lot more people will be able to travel in comfort. Presently, the government is spending largly on building infrastructure, but not public transport. The Metro alone cannot solve the city’s traffic problems no matter how many phases become operational,” he warned.
Guest column: Contractors not keen on associating themselves with BMRCL because of corruption, says Ashwin Mahesh
It is worrying that the construction of the Metro line has been delayed yet again. If Phase 1 had been completed by November 2016 instead of April next year, the North-South and East-West corridors would have been ready in a few weeks and the ridership increased to five lakh from the present one lakh. With Phase 1, there is a real challenge of cutting granite rock and BMRCL is having trouble with inter-departmental coordination in carrying out land acquisition and tree cutting and finding contractors.
With Phase 2, the Karnataka Industrial Development Board is responsible for land acquisition. But instead of having four officers taking care of this, there is only one and this is causing the delay. And although the high court has appointed a Tree Cutting Committee made up of activists and officials, it hasn’t met in two months and there is no decision yet on the 275 trees in Whitefield and those on Kanakapura Road. The BMRCL should file an appeal in the high court to disband the committee if it is not functioning. The Metro Rail cannot wait just because the tree cutting is delayed.
The other problem in Bengaluru is that no big contractor like L&T is interested in getting involved in such projects although they have no such issues in other cities like Lucknow and Kochi. We don't know the exact reason, but it could be because of rampant corruption in the BBMP, BDA and other government offices. Meetings take place with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah but the public has no idea what is going on. The Vision Group would like the state government to set up a Project Monitoring Committee to oversee Metro operations and look into its problems and progress every month. The committee, which could consist of activists, users, industrialists and other stakeholders, may be able to improve co-ordination and reach out to the high court, if necessary.
