Union Cabinet Committee for Economic Affairs has approved the Rs 14,600 crore Chennai Metro Rail Project at a meeting held in New Delhi on January 28, 2009. The project is expected to be completed in 2014-15 and will be implemented by Chennai Metro Rail Limited, a special purpose vehicle, joint venture with equal equity participation from the Central and state governments on the DMRC pattern.
The estimated cost of the project is around Rs14,600 crore including escalation, central taxes and interest during the period of construction, but excluding state taxes and value of vacant state government land. Around 59 per cent of the cost will be met by concessional Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan from the Government of Japan. The loan agreement was signed between the Government of India and the Government of Japan on November 21, 2008 at Tokyo.
The Central Government will contribute 15 per cent of the project cost as equity and 5 per cent as subordinate debt. The remaining share of the cost (21 per cent) will be met by the state government in the form of equity (15 per cent) and subordinate debt (6 per cent).
According to official release, the project has set a record amongst contemporary projects as the fastest in reaching financial closure, by securing Japanese Government funding in just 12 months and Government of India funding in 14 months, whereas this process took more than 2 ½ years in other cities.
As part of the project, two Corridors with a combined length of 45 kms will be constructed in the first phase, of which 24 kms will be underground while 21 kms will be elevated. Corridor I, with a length of 23.1kms (14.3 kms underground and 8.8 kms elevated), will run from Washermanpet to the Airport via Anna Salai. Corridor II, with a length of 22 kms (9.7 kms underground and 12.3 kms elevated), will run from Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount via Koyambedu. The portions of Corridor I from Washermanpet to Saidapet on Anna Salai, and Corridor II on Periyar EVR Salai and Anna Nagar 2nd Avenue, will be underground and the remainder elevated.
The Metro system requires only 20 per cent of the energy used by a road-based system. A single six coach metro train will remove 16 buses or 300 cars or 600 two wheelers from the roads at peak hours.
It is expected that the trains will run every 5 minutes. The Metro is expected to remove 13 lakh passengers per day from the roads by 2026, save over 100 lives a year by reducing fatal accidents, and avoid 500 non-fatal accidents per annum. It is expected to reduce journey times by 50-75 per cent.
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