Chennai Metro Rail Corporation (CMRL) on Tuesday floated a tender seeking a consultant to prepare the feasibility study for South India’s first inter-state metro connecting the industrial hub of Hosur with Bommasandra in Bengaluru.
The tender was issued five months after the Union Government approved the conduct of a feasibility study in February this year. The approval came after the Tamil Nadu government, which is funding the study, wrote to the Centre expressing interest to explore the possibility of connecting Hosur with Bengaluru through the metro system.
A government source said the tender document was also seen by officials of the Bengaluru Metro before it was published.
The tender says reputed, experienced, financially sound, and eligible consultants can apply to prepare the Detailed Feasibility Report for introducing Mass Rapid Transit System connecting Hosur with Bengaluru. The last date for filing the bids is August 31 following which they will be opened for scrutiny on September 1.
The plan is to build a new metro link from Bommasandra station to Hosur, which is home to top business houses like Ashok Leyland, Titan, and TVS Motors. If the project is realised, the Bengaluru-Hosur metro link will mark the first inter-state metro in South India.
The proposed stretch will be 20.5 km long of which 11.7 kilometres falls in Karnataka, while the remaining 8.8 km is in Tamil Nadu, which will fund the feasibility study. Tamil Nadu government believes metro connectivity between Hosur and Bengaluru will further fuel the growth of the industrial town, which is home to over 2,000 MSMEs.
While the feasibility study will be funded 100 per cent by the Tamil Nadu government, the funding pattern of the Metro network is yet to be decided. However, it is likely that Karnataka and Tamil Nadu will bear the expenses for the length of the project in their states along with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
The Karnataka Government had in 2022 written to MoHUA giving its concurrence for the project which will help thousands of people to travel between Hosur and Bengaluru without much hassle. Following this, the Tamil Nadu government asked CMRL to carry out the feasibility study by sanctioning Rs 75 lakh for the purpose.
The feasibility study comes at a time the Tamil Nadu government is mulling launching air connectivity from Hosur.