Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls this year, the Ministry of Finance’s Public Investment Board (PIB) on Wednesday approved metro rail projects of Agra, Kanpur, Ahmedabad phase II and Patna besides the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Rapid Rail Transit corridor.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Government once again made it clear that its share of Rs 1138 crore towards the project cost has to be borne by the Centre as it did not have adequate funds. The question thus reminas as to who will pay the share of Delhi Government, sources said.
Sources in the Government said that financial implications of the aforementioned metro rail projects have been approved. The proposals would be sent to the Union Cabinet for approval.
On the Delhi-Ghaziabd-Meerut corridor of RRTS, Delhi government has written to Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs that proposed change in alignment of the project as well as change of station at Sarai Kale Khan from underground to elevated would affect the construction plan of ISBT Sarai Kale Khan and the proposed hotel under the PPP mode to fund the redevelopment of the ISBT. This will lead to delay in the entire project. According to sources, the after refusing the share the project cost by the Delhi Government, the question arise whether the Centre will pay the share of Delhi Government.
The metro rail project of Patna will cost Rs 13,400 crore. As per the DPR, the 14.5km east-west corridor will cover Saguna Mor, Bailey Road, Patna Junction and Mithapur bus stand. The 16.5km north-south corridor, on the other hand, will connect Patna Junction with the proposed bus stand at Barriya via Ashok Rajpath, Gandhi Maidan and Rajendra Nagar terminal. While the east-west corridor will mostly be underground, the north-south corridor will be elevated.
For Kanpur and Agra metro, the Uttar Pradesh government had reduced the cost of the projects after the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’s objection. For the Kanpur project, a proposal of Rs 18,143 crore was sent earlier. Now it has been made Rs 10,908 crores.
A total of 32.385 km of metro rail will be built in Kanpur. As per the revised DPR, two corridors will be built under the Kanpur Metro project. The proposed metro rail of Kanpur city will cover IIT, Rawatpur, Bada Chauraha, Motimahal, Kanpur Central, ISBT Jhakarkatti and Naubasta. The Agra metro project cost was estimated to Rs 13,781 crores. Now it has been made Rs 8,262 crores. A 30 km metro rail network is to be built in Agra which will consist two corridors.
The Ahmedabad metro phase II projects will cost Rs 7500 crore. As per the revised DPR for phase-II, the route length has been shortened to 28.26 km. It will have two corridors - the first one having a length of 22.84 km will link Motera with Mahatma Mandir and the second one about 5.42 km-long branch from GNLU (Gujarat National Law University) and linking PDPU and GIFT City.