By Express News Service - BANGALORE | Published: 18th September 2013 08:38 AM
A Malaysian company has evinced interest to start monorail services in Bangalore and Hubli-Dharwad cities and the government will initiate talks with the company soon, Infrastructure and Information Minister Santosh Lad said.
Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said, the company, in the first stage, has agreed to cover 25 km in Hubli-Dharwad and 30-35 km in Bangalore.
It has also been asked to also visit Mangalore and Belgaum to explore possibility of introducing monorail there, he noted.
The government wants to improve connectivity in tier-II cities by promoting monorail.
Details are being worked out based on which expression of interests will be called.
According to an estimate, the cost per km for elevated monorail may come around Rs 80 crore to Rs 100 crore per km. “We are yet to work out the details, he added.
‘Airport projects not shelved’
The State government’s ambitious plans to develop airports in tier-II cities has ‘grounded’ temporarily as the promoters of airports in Gulbarga, Bijapur, Hassan and Bellary have backed out citing the projects as ‘unviable’, he said,
Lad added that the projects to develop airports in smaller cities are not ‘shelved’.
They have been put on the backburner till the government comes with a a new formula, he clarified.
