Delhi to pay Rs 2 cr for Metro project report

The Delhi government will bear 40 per cent of the Rs 5 crore spent on the detailed project report for the second phase of the metro rail project. The Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) had prepared the report and submitted it in January.

"The state government will bear 40 per cent of the cost while the rest 60 per cent will be reimbursed by the Union ministry of urban development," Delhi Transport Minister Haroon Yusuf told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.

The second phase of the Metro project, which will take Metro to the National Capital Region towns of Gurgaon and Noida, will have an investment of Rs 8,000 crore. The 53 kilometer long phase is likely to be completed by 2009, before the commencement of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

The second phase has already been approved by an empowered committee and is awaiting nod of a group of ministers(GoM).

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had informed the Delhi government that it was ready to start work for the second phase as soon as its first phase is completed, Delhi Chief Secretary S Regunathan said.

The second phase will include metro rail stretches between Vishwavidyalaya-Jahangir Puri, Central Secretariat-Qutub Minar, Sahhdara-Dilshad Garden, Indraprastha-New Ashok Nagar, Yamuna bank-Anand Vihar ISBT and Mundka-Inder Lok. There is also plan to extend the metro rail facility to Gurgaon and Noida.

The Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments are yet to give their final consent about participating in the project.

Meanwhile, the 11 kilometre long line 2 of the first phase of the Metro from the Delhi University to the Central Secretariat is likely to be operational in the first week of June.

The project, which was targeted for completion by June 2005, had been completed in time. This would take the total length of the Metro rail to 33 kilometre.