BANGALORE: The Karnataka government late Tuesday cleared the second phase of the Bangalore Metro project covering 72 km at an estimated cost of Rs.27,000 crore (Rs.270 billion/$5.1 billion).
"As in the case of the first phase (42km), the second phase of the metro rail project will be executed with budgetary support from the state and central governments by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL)," state Irrigation Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters after a cabinet meeting, which cleared the expansion of the transport network.
Construction of the second phase will be taken up in 2014 after completing the first phase by 2013 and it will be opened for service from 2017.
"We will raise additional funds as debt from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the second phase, which will extend the service on the twin corridors in east-west and north-south direction to the suburbs and peripheral areas from city," Bommai said.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation prepared a detailed project report for expanding the metro rail service across this tech hub to provide an alternative and cost-effective transport mode for its eight million denizens.
The state-run BMRCL commenced a daily service on reach-1 of the first phase Oct 20, 2011 covering 6.7 km from M.G. Road in the city centre to Baiyappannahalli in the eastern suburb.
Being built on public-private partnership model, with the state and federal governments holding 15 percent equity each (Rs.1,224 crore ($250 million), the first phase of the project has 25 percent (Rs.2,040 crore/$416 million) debt component from JICA.