Metro services to the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru will open at the end of 2023, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Thursday. Bommai told the Legislative Council the work on the metro line to the airport was being taken up at a rapid pace. "I am personally supervising the project. We will make sure that the works are completed at the earliest," he said. This was in response to a question by Congress MLC K Govindaraj, who complained that various works of Bengaluru Metro were progressing at a slow pace. Comparing the project to that in Hyderabad, Govindaraj said though the metro work in the city had started later than that in Bengaluru, it was being completed at a rapid pace. Noting the metro project in Bengaluru is being taken up in the heart of the city, Bommai said the population was dense in the region with a large number of housing and commercial establishments. "Due to this, there are several challenges in completing the project," he said, listing the laying of underground lines, land acquisition for the project, and steps to transplant trees from the metro line as obstacles. While Phase II of the Metro project is to be completed by the end of 2025, authorities have now been instructed to complete the project by the end of 2024, Bommai told the Council. According to a written reply, tenders for works on underground metro lines were floated again as the premium for the initial tender was high. The reply also noted the extension of Reach-1 from Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield will be completed by March 2023, Reach-2 from Kengeri to Challaghatta by May 2023, Reach-3 from Nagasandra to Madawara by August 2023, Reach-5 from RV Road to Bommasandra by September 2023 and Reach-6 from Kalena Agrahara to Nagawara by March 2025. Phase-II(A) and Phase-II(B) will be open by June 2026, the reply added.
