Govt moots monorail for three more cities

The State government is all set to extend the monorail proposal to Mangalore, Belgaum and Hubli-Dharwad. With a cost rider of Rs 80 crore to Rs 100 crore per kilometre, the government is looking at these three cities along with Bangalore City in the first phase.

Under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, the government will embark on the public transportation system by acquiring land and, invite firms to construct monorail. It is stated that a firm from Malaysia is the only company which has evinced interest in the proposed rail project.

“We will call for the Expression of Interest (EoI) from companies which are ready to bid for the construction of monorail in Bangalore and the tier-two cities,” Minister of State for Infrastructure Santosh Lad said here on Tuesday.

The minister said that at present, the department is considering a 25-kilometre monorail in the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad. “Once the proposal for the projects are finalised and submitted to the department, I will be taking it to the chief minister for discussion,”  Lad said. “The major roadblock is providing land for these companies. With constraints on land availability, it will be difficult to manage the construction of monorail in Bangalore,” he said.

The minister said if the department intends to implement mega infrastructure projects, a separate cess for the purpose of funding them may have to be considered in future.