With the east-west Metro corridor inching towards reality, the Japanese funding agency is willing to share greater financial burden by jacking up the loan to close to 60%. A happy state government has asked the transport department to speed up the survey and designing job of the project before August 23, when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit the city.
Initially, it was decided that Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) would grant 45% of the project cost as loan. In that case, the state would have to bear 20% and the Centre 35% of the Rs 4,206-crore project. Now, the state's burden may be reduced to 15-10%, if the Centre sticks to its commitment. The project is likely to commence mid-2008 and would be completed by 2014.
Currently, a two-member JBIC fact-finding mission has been surveying the alignment of the east-west corridor. Transport department officers said the designing job of the corridor must be readied fast. "We need to have detailed a discussion with the railways as there would be three interfaces with them. The east-west Metro would connect two terminal stations -- Howrah and Sealdah and the existing north-south Metro corridor at Central station," said a senior transport department officer.
The detailed project report prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) shows that both the exits at Sealdah and Howrah would be under the existing railway platform near the cabway. But railways must see the design and give their opinion, said the officer.
The fact-finding mission has asked the government to speed up the process of land acquisition, specially in Salt Lake, where the corridor would be on an elevated track. The elevated portion is 5.7-kmlong, while the underground portion would be 8-km-long.
Source-The Times of India,13Aug,2007
