Maybe, it becomes a possibility sometime later. And the Mysore Urban Development Authority (MUDA) plans to have a feasiblity survey done, just in case. Muda commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey reckons that in a few years a metro rail may become financially feasible and the survey would be handy to get things moving.
A survey would then become a credible reference point from which we could proceed, without any cost-escalating delay. Smart move, Mr Pandey. The survey report could become source material for project discussions. As Mr Pandey put it, the metro rail proposal might evoke public criticism and may not even find favour in some quarters. A feasiblity survey would provide facts and figures for an informed public debate between the the project supporters and the sceptics.
The need for metro rail was first raised in 'Mysore Vision 2020', a document drafted in 2001. The team of experts who did Kolkata Metro, and now building the Delhi metro, could be mobilised for a feasibility study on Mysore metro. I hope competent engineers such as Maj.Gen S G Vombatkere (whose name figures in the Guinness Book) and Bapu Satyanarayana (former chief engineer of the Border Roads Organisation) are co-opted in the team by Muda.
Work on track-doubling will not proceed any further, if Karnataka refuses to bear 50 per cent of the project cost, now estimated at Rs.220 crores (earlier estimate - Rs.200 crores), according to C H Vijayshankar, MP, who recently met the Railway Board chairman and officials.
The railway board has so far sanctioned work till Ramanagaram. And the government has yet to clear its share of cost for the sanctioned work. The MP, citing the railway board chairman, disclosed that the cost-sharing basis was 60 : 40 up to Kengeri from Bangalore. It's 50 : 50 for the Kengeri-Mysore stretch of the double-track. (April 11, 2005)
It would be helpful, if someone knowledgeable does some arithmetic for us, quantifying Karnataka's share in terms of hard cash. Percentages have a mystifying way of hiding firgures that keep escalating like taxi-meters. For any meaningful discussion we need to know: 1) the cost break-up for the Bangalore-Kengeri and Kengeri-Mysore sections; 2) Karnataka's outstanding dues in respect of the completed portion; 3) Provision made in the cost-sharing agreement in respect of cost escalation; and 4) revised date for project completion.
Sorry, the message posted earlier - What does it all add up to ? - should have figured elsewhere. The relevant message is as follows:
Muda would contribute 60 percent cost for a feasibility study, said commissioner P K Pandey, adding that they would seek 40 per cent from the government. Muda has made a buget allocation of Rs.50 lakhs. Muda chief had a preliminary meeting in Mysore with the vising M D of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, E Sreedharan (April 11, 2005)
