‘CHALLENGING PROJECT’
According to BMRCL MD Mahendra Jain, implementation of large-scale projects is challenging. He, however, maintained that the corporation will meet the deadline. “It’s a huge project and can run into different kinds of obstacles, be it legal or objections from pressure groups. It’s not clockwork. Even if one person gets a stay, it affects the entire project. Phase I was delayed too,” he said.
The Bescom, he said, could not disconnect the power lines on the Whitefield and Electronic City stretch due to school exams and, later, elections. Holding...
more... that the BMRCL is trying to fast-track the work, Jain said interdepartmental issues are being resolved at the high-powered committee headed by the chief secretary.
Many cities in India, however, have shown the way in terms of completing the projects on time. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has built a 288-km Metro network over a 20-year period, which translates to adding 15 km every year. The Metro corporations in Kochi and Lucknow have created a record by completing the projects within four years of starting construction work
Citizens believe there is an urgent need for Metro expansion as the city is deprived of any other public transport system except the BMTC. “BMRCL should understand the important role it plays in changing the way people of Bengaluru are presently commuting. Before it is too late, there should be a project monitoring committee for each line of phase II, comprising local citizens, elected representatives and officials from different government agencies. The CM should take special interest and fast- ..
As for the BMRCL, it can learn a lesson or two from its own project document. The detailed project report, based on which the transport utility is implementing the project, sums it up more aptly: “For successful implementation of any Metro project, which by its very nature is highly technical and complex, huge in size and to be executed in difficult urban environments, political will and commitment is necessary. Decisions are to be taken fast and the implementing agency must have required work-culture, commitment to targets, safety, quality and cost-consciousness.”