The Hindu Business Line : Bangalore monorail project launch on Aug 15

Monorail, which had virtually been forgotten in the wake of a controversy stirred up by former Prime Minster, H. D. Deve Gowda, has been given a fresh lease from the new coalition Government of BJP and Janata Dal (S) led by Mr Gowda's son and the Chief Minister, Mr H. D. Kumaraswamy.

Mr Deve Gowda had asked the Dharam Singh Government to review the Metro Rail Project stating its huge cost would be a severe burden on the exchequer.

The monorail proposal had been put on the back burner after the State-sponsored Metro Rail Project had recently been approved by the Centre after finalising a loan assistance with the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation.

However, Mr Kumaraswamy said on Saturday that the Government had decided to start work on monorail project with a pilot over an 18-km stretch from Kanakpura to Majestic area (south to north). The project will be launched on August 15.

He said the proposal would not clash with the Metro Rail, which is being implemented by the Bangalore Metro Rail Transit Ltd, a special purpose vehicle created by the State Government.

Participating in an interaction with media persons organised by the Bangalore Reporters' Guild here, Mr Kumaraswamy however declined to share the details regarding the cost of the pilot project or the agency that has been entrusted with the work, saying ``those details will be announced shortly''.

He said with the Centre clearing the Metro Rail Project, all the controversies surrounding the project have come to an end now.

The work on the metrorail project, estimated to cost Rs 6,395 crore for its first phase covering 37 km for two alignments across the city, is also expected to start soon. Metrail, a consortium of Swiss and Malaysian company, was among the few companies, which had submitted a proposal for monorail system in Bangalore.

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Bangalore monorail project launch on Aug 15