BDA rejects PWD rate as high, then pays twice the average for Hebbal short tunnel land in Bengaluru

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The short tunnel is expected to ease traffic congestion at Hebbal, in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: SUDHAKARA JAIN

After rejecting the PWD rate for leasing land for the Hebbal short tunnel as ‘too high’, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has fixed a monthly rent of ₹89,700 per acre for temporary use of land from the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (KVAFSU) — twice the average of what contractors working on BMRCL and K-RIDE projects had paid to rent land for their construction work.

The PWD rate was higher than ₹89,700, a BDA official said, and the authority examined rents paid for land in other infrastructure projects to arrive at what it considered a more reasonable rate. The lease with KVAFSU is yet to be executed.

In a letter dated August 10 to the KVAFSU, BDA stated that said adopting the PWD Schedule of Rates would result in a ‘substantially higher lease rent’, impose an ‘undue financial burden’ on the project, and involve expenditure that had not been provided for in the approved project cost.

BDA examined four agreements entered into by contractors of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and K-RIDE with private landowners. The rents ranged between ₹37,800 and ₹55,725 per acre a month, yielding an average of ₹44,850. The authority then fixed the KVAFSU land at ₹89,700 per acre a month — exactly twice that average. The letter does not explain why the average was doubled. The BDA official said the authority was seeking a balance between the higher PWD rate and the rates in the four agreements. The actual PWD rate is not mentioned in the letter.

The proposed lease is between two State-run institutions. KVAFSU is a State-run university and the BDA is executing the tunnel. Unlike the four agreements used by BDA as benchmarks, which involved private landowners, this arrangement involves payment for temporary use of university land.

The temporary land requirement is an additional construction-related expense for a project that has already faced questions over cost. When the short tunnel was proposed, the Finance Department, terming the project as an ‘expensive quick-fix‘, had questioned its high cost and whether a surface road could provide similar relief to motorists at a fraction of the expense. The Urban Development Department subsequently said a surface road had initially been considered but that KVAFSU had refused to part with the land required for the project, prompting the shift to an underground alignment. Even then, the Finance Department had questioned whether that refusal alone justified the much more expensive tunnel.

There have also been questions over whether the short tunnel will actually ease congestion at Hebbal or merely shift it to other junctions.

Moreover, the land requirement is significant given the history of the project.