The Public Investment Board (PIB) has in principle cleared the Bangalore Metro Rail Project on grounds that no other system would be suitable for the city though it has deferred the final nod for another week.Lending support to the project — which ran into rough weather after former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opposing it — the PIB asked the state government why Bangalore Metropolitan Region Transport Limited (BMRT) wanted high tax exemptions. The board also sought to know the details of the proposed tariff plan and ways the BMRTL proposed to fund the Rs 6,000-crore project.The PIB, which is scheduled to meet at the end of the next week to clear the project has asked the BMRTL — which will execute the project — to also clarify steps planned for optimum use of the set-up and the pattern of tax exemption, in two to three days.On Gowda’s objections, officials said, the PIB would send a status report to the Prime Minister’s Office. The PMO had forwarded Gowda’s letter to the PIB.The BMRT has reportedly based its funding structure, including the level of tax exemption, on the Delhi Metro Rail project. Ten per cent project escalation charges have also been included in the projections, sources said.The PIB meeting — chaired by expenditure secretary Adarsh Kishore — was attended by officials of Urban Development, Finance, Railways, Planning Commission and UTI Bank (which carried out the financial appraisal of the project). The meeting noted that while Japan Bank for International Cooperation, which is funding metro rail, has not given the structure of its funding, UTI Bank has volunteered to raise Rs 3,200 crore for the project.
