Karnataka can’t build rail link to BIA

Will it or won’t it? That’s the big question staring the Karnataka government in the face with regard to the High Speed Rail Link (HSRL) to BIA.
Depending on a bureaucratic approval from the Centre, the government will either have to let go of the project or hand it over to the Railways.
From the word go, it’s been a series of opposition and administrative hitches for the Rs 6,700-crore project. As a result, the project hasn’t got off the drawing board even three years after it was conceptualised.
While the state infrastructure development department has completed the Request for Qualification bids, it is looking at the Centre to amend a law so that it can finalise the documents.
HSRL, like the Namma Metro project, has been planned under the Mysore Tramway Act. But here lies the problem: The Act does not have jurisdiction beyond the municipal boundary and HSRL will chug well beyond these limits — after Yelahanka and Airforce to reach BIA.
According to the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Acts, only the Railways can undertake a rail project outside municipal boundaries and within village limits.
03/11/10 Bangalore Mirror

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Categories: Airports Nov 2010