New Delhi: The Centre will partially fund the Noida-Greater Noida Metro rail corridor being built on the outskirts of the national capital at a cost Rs 5,500 crore.
The Cabinet on Wednesday formally approved the project, being implemented by the Noida Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (NMRC), which will pave the way for the Centre to provide Rs 970.62 crore “in equity and subordinate debt”. NMRC, a special purpose vehicle created by the Uttar Pradesh government, will now be converted into equal joint venture of the state and Central governments.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The corridor which is being built as Noida Metro Rail Project is near completion and trial runs will start by the end of the year.
Announcing the Cabinet decision, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the length of the Metro corridor will be 29.70 km which will be fully elevated. The project is scheduled to be completed by April next year. “With Metro rail in place, there will be less vehicular traffic on roads leading to less congestion, less time and cost of journey, less consumption of fossil fuel and less environmental pollution. The new metro link with benefit 7.50 lakh residents,” an official statement said.
The project will be implemented by Noida Metro Rail Corporation Limited, which will be a 50:50 jointly owned company of the Union government and the government of Uttar Pradesh. “The project is scheduled to be completed by April, 2018 as per the detailed project report (DPR). About 70 per cent progress of civil work and 40 per cent of overall financial progress of the project have been achieved,” the statement added.
The project would generate significant direct and indirect employment of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workforce. The population of Noida and Greater Noida, as per 2011 Census, is about 7.50 lakh and is projected to grow to 19 lakh by 2021 and the government hopes that the project will assure greater mobility and decongest Delhi with people shifting to the satellite towns.
Noida has a potential of about 10,000 industrial units and presently about 7,500 are functional, providing employment to over two lakh people in the region. Currently, Delhi Metro is serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad in national capital eegion.
