Chennai Metro Rail (CMRL) plans to approach Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for funding Phase II of the Chennai Metro Rail project. Once the State government grants final approval for the alignment of three corridors of Phase II, CMRL will seek financial assistance from JICA, senior officials said. In this phase, corridors will connect Madhavaram and Light House (17 km), Koyambedu and Injambakkam (27 km) and Madhavaram and Perumbakkam (32 km).
“There will be a meeting in April with the officials of the State government where the alignment for Phase II will be discussed. We will approach JICA after this,” an official of CMRL said. JICA funds nearly 59 per cent of Phase I of the project, the Centre 20 per cent and the State government, the remaining cost. Phase I is being developed at a cost of Rs. 14,600 crore.
Phase II is expected to cost around Rs. 36,000 crore. It will criss-cross the city for 76 km, entirely underground, and will take at least 10 years to complete. The construction cost is estimated to be around Rs. 500 crore per km, officials said.
