The urban development ministry is mulling a proposal to increase the government funding for public private partnership (PPP)-based mass rapid transportation system (MRTS), including metro rail, and other projects in major cities."We are considering the proposal to increase the central support to 30% from the existing 20% to encourage private participation in Metro projects," urban development secretary M Ramachandra said."This will be given as viability gap funding and a final decision is likely to be taken soon", he said.According to the proposal, the additional funding of 10% will be disbursed from the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) fund. The move aims at encouraging the private participation in metro projects as part of the MRTS in major cities.Currently, metro projects are coming up on PPP model in Mumbai and Hyderabad. The government wants more developers to come forward for metro projects.The metro project executed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in the capital has proved itself as an environment-friendly, safest and fast urban transportaion mode.The DMRC has done a detailed project report on the Mumbai metro projects, which are coming up in two phases. The 80-km route is to link Versova-Ghatpokar, Colaba-Charkop and Charkoji-Mankhurd in Mumbai.The 60-km route earmarked for Hyderabad is Miyapur-Chaitanyapuri, Secunderabad-Falaknuma and Taranaka-Hightech City.
