BMRCL has no vision, says Sreehari

BANGALORE: Metro once again came under heavy criticism on Thursday for the delay due to which crores is being lost to the exchequer Irked by the loss, Advisor to government on Urban transportation M N Sreehari has decided to take the matter to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.Speaking at a seminar on Metro Rail 2011, he lambasted the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation for the delay in executing the project. "Even a day before the April 4 deadline, the BMRCL was unclear about the procedures and the Act they should be following. They should have cleared all their doubts before taking up the project," he observed."As per our internal audit, BMRCL is losing Rs 65 lakh based on internal rates return which is the annualized rate of return (in percent) of an investment calculated using compound interest rate," Sreehari said."If BMRCL had kept its deadline, we could have completed the work on the underground stretch at a cost of around Rs 8,000 crore, now by 2013 or 2014 whenever they complete the work, the cost would be around ` 13,000 crore now," he noted."BMRCL has no vision. It has not learnt from Delhi Metro. Ultimately, the tax paayers money is being wasted. BMRCL is not transparent in its functioning and is all secretive about this public project which is also one of the reasons for a delay in the launch," he emphasised."I am going to take the matter to Chief Minister. I will write a letter to him and explain how BMRCL has been incompetent," he added. "We are struggling to launch 6.7 km stretch for almost one year while in Dubai a stretch of 41 kms was completed in 18 months," he noted.The seminar will conclude on Friday afternoon.