Bangalore's Namma Metro spurs property price hike

On 20 October Bangalore will be the third metro in India - after Kolkata and Delhi - to have a metro rail system, an early Diwali gift for the booming metropolis.

The rail system called Namma Metro is ready to take centre stage tomorrow, even as its launch will see special guests and VIPs inagurating the project that has been in the making for a little less than five years.

Union minister for urban development, Kamal Nath is expected to inaugurate the first line of Namma plying from from MG Road to Byappanahalli. In preparation for the opening, most roads in Bangalore’s Central Business District will be shut for traffic, according to the Deccan Chronical .

And even before the Namma takes off, property prices in Bangalore around the Namma routes are seeing a spike in prices. According to CNN-IBN, realty rates between Old Madras Road and Byappanahalli have shot up from Rs 3,000 per square feet to Rs 6,000 per sq ft and builders are rushing to start projects along the first phase of metro.

“Already the Old Madras road where the metro has started is in the limelight, builders are launching several projects. We are also launching two to three projects there. The impact has started,” Salarpuria Sattva Group Chairman Bijay Agarwal told CNN-IBN.

The second phase of Bangalore metro, which will be launched in December 2012 connecting most suburbs to the commercial hubs of the city, is expected to push a further hike in prices.

Watch the CNN-IBN report on the increase in property prices in Bangalore along the Namma Metro route: