The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), formed jointly in September 1994 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs of the Government of India (GOI) and the Ministry of Transport of the Government of Karnataka (GOK). The BMRCL started constructing 42.3 Bangalore Metro Rail in April 2015 and after completion of first phase it had planned for the second phase. There are 6 routes in the planned second phase named (a) Mysore Road Terminal to Kengeri (b) Baiyappanahalli to ITPL - Whitefield (c) Hesaraghatta Cross to BIEC (d) Puttenahalli Cross to Anjanapura Township (up to NICE Road) (e) Gottigere to Nagavara (Line - 6) and (f) R.V. Road to Bommasandra (Line - 5). To implement the almost 23 km long Gottigere to Nagavara reach (Line - 6), BMRCL sought a loan from European Investment Bank (EIB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Subsequently EIB approved a multi tranche loan of Euro 500 million and AIIB approved a loan of USD 335 million.
Land Acquisition
The Project entails the acquisition of about 33 hectares of land from BMRCL, 22.4 hectares held by private owners and about 3.2 hectares held by various public entities. In addition, approximately 27 common property assets, such as religious structures and local utilities, which may be affected due to the proposed alignment. As mentioned in Compensation and Resettlement Package (CRP) 2019, Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) is the responsible agency for acquisition of land according to the state law of Karnataka (KIADB Act 1966). Additionally 5.18 hectare (12.80 acre) of land will be taken for the project temporarily due to construction works. But the Draft Bengaluru Transit Oriented Development Policy (BTOD) 2019 will seriously affect the poor slum dwellers, hawkers and small shopkeepers who are not covered under the compensation plan.
Displacement
According to the EIA Report (August 2017), a total of 838 households will be affected, which includes 712 households linked to commercial units and 126 residential households. In addition, there are 153 tenants including 136 commercial and 17 residential families who will be affected due to the project. Based on the average household size of city it is estimated that about 3890 persons will be affected by the Project. As per the preliminary estimation carried out by BMRCL, a total of 698 private structures will be affected. Out of the 698 private structures, 642 are title holders and 56 are non-title holders. The loss of livelihood estimated under the project includes business loss by owners (712), loss of rental income by residential owner (17), loss of rental income by commercial owners (136), loss of business livelihood by commercial tenants (136) and commercial squatters (44).
Environment
The Environmental and Social Data Sheet of the project states that (a) About 1312 trees will be lost for construction of metro rail alignment as well as the depot area; (b) Local air pollution will increase due to rock crushing, cutting and filling works, and chemical emissions from asphalt processing; (c) Risks and vulnerabilities related to occupational health and safety will increase due to physical, chemical, biological, and radiological hazards during project construction and operation; (d) Dislocation or involuntary resettlement of people as there will be a need for land acquisition for elevated as well as underground sections and also for a Depot; (e) Dislocation and compulsory resettlement of people from shops living near the stations (f) Noise and vibration due to tunnelling boring machine, excavation machines, and materials hauling; (g) Increased noise and air pollution resulting from traffic volume during construction.
Information Disclosure
Timely and meaningful Information Disclosure is one of the basic conditions of large infrastructure project as per AIIB and EIB policies. A complete EIA report is to be submitted and approved for the project while ESIA report is required according to the EIB and AIIB environmental standards. The BMRCL developed its EIA report only in August 2017 while the trilateral agreement had been submitted in February 2017. The project document refers that all consultations for developing Resettlement Policy Framework has been uploaded and published on BMRCL Website, but the website says “You do not have permission to view this directory or page” if one clicks on the given link. No Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) and Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) has been published yet. The project document confirms formation of a Social and Environmental Management Unit (SEMU), however no information is available in the public domain about the SEMU.
Information Sources
- AIIB (2017). Project Document: Bangalore Metro Rail Project –Line R6 (Project Number: 000038). Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Beijing: 20 November 2017. Accessed on 18 September 2019
- AIIB (2019). Project Summary Information (PSI): Bangalore Metro Rail Project – Line R6 (Project Number: 000038). Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Beijing: 20 March 2019. Accessed on 25 September 2019
- BMRCL (2017a). Environmental Impact Assessment Study (Gottigere-Nagavara Corridor): Bangalore Metro Rail Project: Phase - II: Final Report. Bangalore Metro Rail Line Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Bangalore: May 2017. Accessed on 5 October 2019
- BMRCL (2017b). Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report: Bangalore Metro Rail Project - Line R6. Bangalore Metro Rail Line Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Bangalore: August 2017. Accessed on 5 October 2019
- BMRCL. 2018. 12th Annual Report 2017-18. Bangalore Metro Rail Line Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Bangalore: 20 September 2018. Accessed on 6 October 2019
- BMRCL. 2019. Compensation and Resettlement Package (CRP) 2019 applicable to Reach 6 of Phase-2 and Phase-2A & 2B. Bangalore Metro Rail Line Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Bangalore: 10 July 2019. Accessed on 6 October 2019
- BMRCL. Undated. Social Assessment of Bangalore Metro Rail Project - Line 6. Bangalore Metro Rail Line Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Bangalore: Undated. Accessed on 6 October 2019
- DMRCL. 2011. Detailed Project Report (DPR): Bangalore Metro Phase II: Gottigere - IIMB - Nagavara Corridor. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRCL), New Delhi: September 2011. Accessed on 5 October 2019
- EIB. 2017a. Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF): Bangalore Metro Rail Project - Line R6 (Project Number: 2016-0816). European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg: 7 July 2017. Accessed on 19 September 2019
- EIB. 2017b. Environmental and Social Data Sheet (ESDS): Bangalore Metro Rail Project - Line 6 (Project Number: 2016-0816). European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg: 18 July 2017. Accessed on 20 September 2019
- EIB. 2017c. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report: Bangalore Metro Rail Project - Line 6 (Project Number: 2016-0816). European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg: August 2017. Accessed on 21 September 2019
- EIB. 2018. Environmental and Social Practices Handbook. European Investment Bank (EIB), Luxembourg: 8 October 2018. Accessed on 6 October 2019
- GOK. 2019. Draft Bengaluru Transit Oriented Development Policy (BTOD). Government of Karnataka (GOK), Bengaluru: February 2019. Accessed on 7 October 2019
- Ravi, P. 2018. 10 Extremely Relevant Facts About Poverty in Bangalore. Borgen Project, Seattle: 31 May 2018. Accessed on 6 October 2019
- Zuckerman, E; Kugli, L. et al. 2018. Gender Scorecard & Analysis of AIIB Projects: Bangalore Metro Rail Project ‐ Line R6. Gender Action, Washington DC: June 2018 p32. Accessed on 19 September 2019
