Metro likely to get Rs 630 crore aid from Centre

August 14, 2013

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JAIPUR: The Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC), which aims to replicate the Delhi Metro magic in Pink City, is expected to receive financial support from the Union government. In a public investment board meeting chaired by the Union finance secretary R S Gujral, a recommendation to allocate Rs 630 crore for the Jaipur Metro, Phase -I was made on Tuesday. The final approval to the proposal will be given in the Union cabinet meeting.

An official explained that JMRC is seeking financial help from the Central government for the Jaipur Metro corridor-I (Mansarovar to Badi Chaupar), in the form of equity. “Out of the total amount, the government of India will give Rs 472.5 crore as equity and Rs 157.5 crore as loan,” the official said. As part of the joint venture, the Centre is expected to provide approximately 20% financial assistance in the form of equity for the entire project.

The announcement in the meeting was a big relief for the JMRC senior officials as the state government was not in a position to fund the entire project from its own pocket, according to sources.

Initially, when the project was conceived, stage-I was estimated at Rs 1,250 crore with the state government taking up just the civil work. The rolling stock and the construction of Metro from Chandpole to Badi Chaupar was planned to be taken up on public and private partnership. But later the state government decided to fund even these two on its own increasing the project cost to Rs 3,149 crore.

Apart from receiving funds from the Central government, the JMRC will also take Rs 969 crore loan from Asian Development Bank.

The loan will be used to fund development of the underground Metro corridor between Chandpole and Badi Chaupar. According to the Metro officials, the loan process is in the final stages and ADB and JMRC are expected to sign an agreement next month.

The senior urban development and housing (UDH) and JMRC officials in the meeting also said that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is all set to conduct the trial run of Jaipur Metro train from Mansarovar to Vivek Vihar station by next month. The trial run will be held on elevated tracks by rakes (trains having four coaches) recently purchased from Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML).

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com