The Indian Government has approved the Ministry of Railways’ proposal for revised cost estimate for construction Kolkata East West Metro Corridor Project. INR 8575 crore is the estimated cost for the project completion with Rs.3268.27 crore as Ministry of Railway’s share. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs’ share as Rs.1148.31 crore and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) loan of Rs.4158.40 crore fulfills the remaining.
The project aims at constructing a Metro Corridor between Salt Lake Sector-V to Howrah Maiden in West Bengal for a distance of 16.6 kms. The special purpose vehicle Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited [KMRCL] implements the project which is a CPSE under Ministry of Railways. Few highlights of the project include implementation of a transport tunnel under River Ganges first ever in India, Howrah station being the deepest metro station in India. The project connects the business districts with industrial cities. Important landmarks like Howrah, Sealdah, Esplanade and Salt Lake Sector-V, an IT hub are connected together. The metro integrates sub-urban railways, ferry and bus interchange by forming an interchange hubs ensuring smooth and seamless mode of transport to a millions of commuters.
The estimated time of project completion proposed during project approval was December 2021. Due to the pandemic it may be delayed but efforts are taken by the ministry to minimize the impact. The metro will revolutionize the mass rapid transport because of its connectivity. The sub-urban rail project for Bengaluru was also approved after its proposal before three decades. The project worth Rs. 15,767 crore was given a green signal. Due to the bypolls in Karnataka, there is no formal announcement from the Ministry. A six-year deadline has been given to the project completion. KSR Bengaluru city to KIA Airport route has taken up the first priority.
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