The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has said it has sufficient funds at its disposal to continue with the construction work on the Delhi metro rail beyond March, 2000. It has also clarified that the length of the rail corridors and the size of the project will not be reduced.
An official spokesman of DMRC said the Overseas Economic Co-operation Fund of Japan had sanctioned Rs 470 crore and released an amount of Rs 100 crore.
"We have spent about Rs 70 crore out of the fund released by OECF. We are supposed to spend the released fund and then get back to them for more," the spokesman said. He was reacting to reports that the OECF had refused to release more funds in the wake of the Pokhran nuclear tests.
"We have spent years surveying different parts in and around Delhi and planning the corridors and linkages in the project. There is no question of chopping parts of it at this stage," he said.
The reports had suggested that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was considering chopping the 19.3-km surface corridor between Subzi Mandi and Holambi Kalan and the underground corridor between Delhi University and Central secretariat in view of the paucity of funds.
