DMRC has exhausted the resources lent by multilateral agencies
Phase-II of the Delhi Metro rail project will become operational before the Commonwealth Games in October, but Delhiites may have to wait a little before work on the third phase starts.
While the railways ministry had forwarded its comments, the state government was yet to approve the proposed blueprint for Phase-III of the project, government officials told Business Standard.
Funding the 69.75-km corridor under Phase-III was a cause for concern as DMRC had exhaustively tapped into resources lent by multilateral agencies, he said.
Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) has already given a soft loan of Rs 16,121 crore for the completion of Phase -I and -II of the metro projects in Delhi. JICA had given Rs 6,434 crore out of the Rs 10,571 crore for constructing a 65-km stretch of Phase-II. Nearly 49 per cent of the resources required for developing Phase-II of the Delhi Metro at Rs 9,687 crore has also been funded by JICA. The total cost of developing Phase-II is projected to be around Rs 20,000 crore. According to a draft feasibility report prepared last year, Phase-III would cost over Rs 11,000 crore.
With DMRC exhausting the multilateral funding route, the Ministry of Urban Development had earlier proposed that the corporation can look at raising resources from an issue of tax-free bonds. Financing strategies like an Initial Public Offering (IPO) or setting up of a Dedicated Mass Transit Fund were also considered at the time, based on a study by project management firm Feedback Ventures in late 2008.
But, two years since, there has not been much progress on the project. A spokesperson from DMRC said the Detailed Project Report for Phase-III was sent to the state government for approval in March 2010. The DPR is still under the consideration of the government.
When Phase-III had come up for consideration in early 2008, it was decided that there would be an extension of over 138.9 km within the national capital territory and national capital region. DMRC had worked out the cost estimates based on an average cost of Rs 175 crore per kilometre.
The corporation had proposed that 16.3 km of the Delhi airport-Gurgaon link be funded through the public-private partnership route. This would have brought down the total funding requirement for the remaining 122.6 km to Rs 21,450 crore from Rs 24,303 crore.
