The project is likely to get the Union Cabinet's approval on June 14 following sustained lobbying by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and transport minister Subhas Chakraborty.

"The 13.4-km metro corridor from Howrah station to Salt Lake Sector V would involve a cost of Rs 4,300 crore. Forty-five per cent of that would be funded by Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC), 30% would be borne by the state and 25% by the Centre," Chakraborty said at a meeting of the stakeholders on Friday.

Chakraborty said provisions would be made during the project work so that extension of the network till Santragachhi on the western side and till New Town in Rajarhat on the eastern side could be taken up in near future. The work would start in 2008 after land acquisition and would be completed in 2014.

The stakeholders' meet was attended by MLAs, MPs, former bureaucrats, general managers and chief engineers of railways. A Japanese team gave a demonstration on how the metro is going take shape finally. Trains on the east-west corridor would run at 80 km per hour. Eight kilometres of the metro corridor would be underground and 5.7 km would be on elevated tracks.

There will be 12 stations, of which Howrah, Mahakaran, Central, Bowbazar, Sealdah, Phoolbagan would be underground, said additional chief secretary (transport) Sumantra Chowdhury.