RailEnquiry

BANGALORE: A group of Bangalore-based industry and government officials met Finance Minister P Chidambaram and asked for about Rs 5,000 crore for the next phase of the long-delayed Bangalore Metro Rail project.The "Namma Metro" project is a joint venture between the Centre and the state government, in which the former holds a 25% stake.Karnataka Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar met Chidambaram, along with Infosys executive co-chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director of Biocon, and TV Mohandas Pai, chairman of Manipal Global Education.The finance minister acknowledged that he held talks with government and industry representatives to discuss Phase-II of the city's metro rail project, which is critical for the city's crumbling transport infrastructure but has been stymied by funding and bureaucratic hurdles."The state will contribute about Rs 8,000 crore in the project," said an official who was part of the meeting. "The Finance Minister seemed positive about the project and may take the proposal forward."The overall cost expected for the Phase II of the 76-km Namma Metro project is about Rs 27,000 crore. About Rs 11,000 crore has been spent on the Phase I of the project, partly financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency and Housing and Urban Development Corporation.

Asian Development Bank also approved a loan of $250 million (Rs 1,250 crore) for BMRCL earlier this year for the second phase.

The number of passengers expected to travel on the metro once it is fully complete is about 19 lakhs in 2021. In comparison, Delhi Metro carries about 20 lakh people every day on its various lines stretching up to Gurgaon and Noida from the national capital.

Chidambaram was in the city to hold meetings with the chief ministers and finance ministers of the four southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, relating to the flow of credit to core sectors, including agriculture, and greater financial inclusion.

"Broadly, the conclusion is that the southern states are doing very well in terms of credit delivery and expansion of the banking network. They are doing very well in terms of financial inclusion," Chidambaram said.