BENGALURU: With the Finance Ministry recently giving the green signal for external funding of the Rs 15,767-crore Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project (BSRP), an eight-member delegation of foreign funding agencies met top officials of the State government on Tuesday.
The 148.17-km project is being implemented by Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited (K-RIDE) which has been tasked with mobilising Rs 7,438 crore through external borrowings while much of the remaining amount will be shared between the central government and the state government. CM Basavraj Bommai, in his maiden budget speech, had reiterated that the BSRP will be ready in six years.
Representatives of the France-based lender, French Development Agency (AFD), and the German-based KFW Development Bank along with Board of Directors of K-RIDE met the Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar at Vidhana Soudha in this connection.
“The representatives of the lending agencies have come on an assessment visit. This is a preliminary meeting and they have come to study the project in detail,” Kumar told TNIE. No major decision was taken today. “It will take around three to four months to arrive at any decision,” he added.
AFD delegation members comprised Augustine Delisle, Deputy Director, Benjamin Fouin, Task Team Leader for Transport, South Asia, and Rajnish Ahuja, Sector Portfolio Manager. KFD was represented by Swati Khanna, Senior Sector expert, Palak Thakur, Sector Expert, Ulrich Thomas, Technical expert, Achim Bronner, E&S expert, and Patricia Immler, Senior Portfolio Manager.
Tenders have already been floated for civil works for the Mallige Line of the Suburban Rail running for 25 km between Baiyappanahalli and Chikkanabanavara (second corridor). Tenders will be floated for the Heelalige-Rajanakunte line (fourth corridor). The Kengeri-Cantonment-Whitefield and the KSR Bengaluru-Devanahalli will be taken up in due course.