Even as the Metro rail chugs on its way up the popularity chart in Bangalore, the government has approved the second phase of ‘Namma Metro'. The 72-km Phase II of Metro will come up at an estimated Rs 27,000 crore, and is expected to be completed by 2017.

Will the coming of the Metro churn — or even marginally touch — the real estate market scene as it did the Capital?

Mr V. K. Sharma, Director and Chief Executive, LIC Housing Finance, at a recent event in Bangalore, said that he expected the metro train service to transform the city in the next three years. He explained the case of how Delhi went through a similar experience after the metro service was started there. Real estate analysts point out that the peripheral property markets in areas like Gurgaon sky-rocketed, thanks to the Delhi metro.

PHASE 1

In October 2011, a 6.7-km stretch between Baiyappanahalli and M G Road, with six stations, was inaugurated. The stretch is Metro's ‘Reach 1' part of the East-West corridor of the first phase. Phase I will see a 42.3-km network, 8.8 km of which will be underground on the East-West (Baiyappanahalli to Mysore Road) and North-West (Hesarghatta to Puttenahalli) corridors with 40 stations. The first phase is expected to be completed by December 2013.

The second phase will see extension of all reaches on the two existing corridors, east-west and north-south. Besides, two new lines — from Jayanagar to Electronics City, passing through Jayadeva Hospital, BTM Layout and Silk Board, and the other from Nagavara to Gottigere, passing through the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore — would also come up.

In a significant move, that will ensure that this public transport would serve the IT population of this city in a better way, the east-west corridor would be extended up to Whitefield in the east, and Kengeri in the West. The north-south corridor would now be extended up to the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre in the north, and up to Anjanapura township in the south.

It has to be noted that Phase 1 of the project doesn't cover the IT hubs of the city. That route would have helped it address the city's infamous traffic woes in a better way. A real estate developer pointed out that Phase I of the metro doesn't cover those city locations where IT offices are located. Currently, Reach 1 of the Metro has made no difference to the everyday traffic woes of the areas it serves, he said.

IT CORRIDORS

The city's working population predominantly belongs to the IT/ITeS sectors, and most of the IT/ITeS offices are located in locations such as Outer Ring Road, Electronics City, Whitefield, and Bannerghatta Road. Extending this infrastructural project to include the IT corridors of the city would not only make commuting to office much easier and faster for the city's working class, but would also help de-congest the fully-blocked roads.

As has been the experience so far with the Metro, the commute between the now-operational Baiyappanahalli and MG Road doesn't take more than 9 minutes. That very road, at peak-hour traffic, would take anywhere between 30 and 40 minutes (at the minimum), while commuters can cover the distance in around 25 minutes during non-peak hours.

However, not all are convinced that the metro service in Bangalore has made any significant impact to the city's real estate market, as was expected. “The metro service so far hasn't been an attraction to the real estate market because the first phase doesn't offer the desired connectivity,” said Mr Naresh Dandapat, a real estate analyst. He pointed out that on the eastern corridor, a stretch till Baiyappanahalli doesn't make any significant difference to the property market in Whitefield now, despite both these locations being on Old Madras Road. “In future, when the second phase connects to Mysore Road and Whitefield, peripheral areas would see a better demand,” he added. A timely conception and execution of the project would have helped both existing property owners and developers planning projects in the areas. The real estate market, at its current growth rate, would outgrow the reach of the metro in five years' time, explained Mr Dandapat.

“Though comparisons are made, it has to be noted that the Delhi metro was opened at the right time. Had Bangalore Metro offered the connectivity to Whitefield now, it would have helped the micro-market's real estate values better than five years from now,” he explained. Between 2009-10 and 2011-12, the micro-market has seen a 16 per cent growth in property prices, said Mr Dandapat.

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