Jaipur Metro: Govt keen on early beginning of work

JAIPUR: The urban development department has maintained that the Jaipur Metro will be completed with least possible disturbance to the existing infrastructure and will be designed to suit the requirements of a wide range of commuters. The project report is expected to be submitted by mid-January and officials wanted to ensure that all measures are taken by April this year for commencement of the work.
To overcome the procedural delays in sanction of funds from the centre, the state government has also expressed the intention to initiate the project even before getting a formal approval from the Union government.“A decision in respect to the future progress will be taken only after the state cabinet approves the project. However, the state government might decide to initiate work from its assured share,” said principal secretary, urban development, G S Sandhu.
During an interaction with managing director of DMRC E. Sreedharan, the state government officials had expressed the hope that it could make an independent contribution of Rs 300 crore per annum till funds arrive from the Union government.
In the initial phase, the ambitious mass transit system, connecting 29 stations in 25 kilometres, is estimated to cost nearly Rs 8,000 crore. The state government will have to contribute nearly Rs 2,000 crore as seed money.
However, the present format of the proposed North South corridor from Jawahar Circle to Sindhi Camp has some shortcomings. As the portion is expected to undergo a review, the initial work will be launched for the 9 km stretch of the East West corridor connecting Mansarovar and railway station.
Also, as the total expenditure on the selected track is estimated to be less than Rs 1,500 crore, the project can be completed well by the state government’s share. Meanwhile, officials of Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC), though advocate that the routes of the metro have been decided after much planning, maintained that a final decision shall be taken by the state government after a thorough evaluation of all the related aspects.
The project report has been prepared with much efforts. “It will be presented to urban development department for further improvement and if needed changes will be made to the detailed project report,” said Lalit Meghanani, chief engineer, DMRC.