Bangalore infra snippets

The monorail, Metro and high-speed rail will be chugging along nicely in the near future. Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa gave some cheering news on Tuesday — work on monorail will begin in January, work on high-speed rail may start by February and the work on Metro project has been expedited. The 59-km monorail, conceived to act as a feeder service to the Metro project, will be completed in three years, the CM announced in the assembly .The CM said the detailed project report on the monorail would be ready by this month-end. “We are planning to invite tenders in September.’’ He said the government was also making all efforts to initiate the 34-km high-speed rail link between the city and the Bengaluru International Airport in February and complete it by 2013. The tender process is over and concession agreement is expected to be signed by August-end, he added. “The high-speed rail link will allow people to reach the airport from the city in just 25 minutes,’’ the CM said. Regarding Metro, Yeddyurappa said a detailed project report for expansion of the project was under preparation. The government has expedited the ongoing Metro work and making all efforts to complete the project before the given deadline. As of now, he said Rs 2,700 crore has been spent under the first phase (42.3 km). The Byappanahalli-cricket stadium stretch will be thrown open for traffic in January. “As much as 25% of the work on the first phase of the Metro project has been completed so far with a financial assistance of Rs 539 crore from the Centre,’’ he added.