A day after Governor H R Bhardwaj criticised the design and implementation flaws in the Bangalore Metro infrastructure, experts have felt that the government should revisit some of the aspects of project and bring in better coordination among the civic agencies for the proper implementation of the project.
On Monday, the governor had criticised Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) and the previous government for laying overhead tracks instead of underground tracks and the undue delay in implementing the project.
Infrastructure expert Dr Ashwin Mahesh agreed with the governor on the design flaws and said that it is too late for anyone to revisit the design and alignment of the project. The government should ensure that these flaws do not recur in future. The governor should have suggested means to prevent such flaws from recurring. Though there is a high-level committee to bring about coordination among the different civic agencies, there is no coordination.
As thousands of people travel in Metro, the footpaths on either side should have been broadened to accommodate the people who travel to and from the Metro stations.
There should be enough coordination between the BMRCL and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on issues related to alignment and designing of roads and footpaths along the route and near the stations, he felt.
“Though going underground is most advisable, the BMRCL does not have enough funds and if we had gone underground all along, it would have been expensive. You cannot compare the BMRCL with the Delhi Metro as Delhi Metro has lot of funds and the BMRCL is just emerging,” Mahesh added.
Traffic expert and infrastructure consultant M N Sreehari feels that there are some serious design and alignment flaws in the Metro project. Sreehari says the Metro trains travel at the speed of around 90kmph in most of the cities. But, in Bangalore, it cannot exceed 40 kmph due to steep curvatures.
“One cannot see three Metro stations within 1 km distance anywhere in the world except in Bangalore. They are constructing three stations within 1 km in Jayanagar. These flaws would not have occurred if they had consulted a local expert who is familiar with the conditions here. The BMRCL incurs `65 lakh loss for one day of delay caused in implementing of the project. The initial estimate cost of the project was `2,750 crore and now it is escalated to `14,000 crore. Therefore, the government should review these issues and eliminate these shortcomings while implementing the next phase,” Sreehari said.
However, Civil Aid Technoclinic Managing Director C S Vishwanath said, “The delay is caused due to land acquisition and other issues. With some homework, these things could should have been avoided as a huge sum of money is involved in the project. The government can still do a lot of things to expedite the project.”