The Coimbatore metro rail project work may start as early as December next year.
Sources in the Coimbatore Corporation said the State Government agencies involved are looking to start the earth work by this time next year as the preliminary work began three months ago.
The Government had asked the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) for help to execute the project.
The agency that the Chennai Metro Rail Limited had engaged to prepare the feasibility report and the Detailed Project Report – Systra, RITES – began the study three months agoand it had submitted the draft of the feasibility report to CMRL, the sources said.
The agency had held a consultation meeting with stakeholders – various government departments like National Highways, State Highways, Coimbatore Corporation, Coimbatore district administration, Transport Department, Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation among others – around 20 days ago and would hold further meetings in the days to come.
The sources said the agency had sought details on the city – arterial roads, the length of the roads, vehicle movement on a per-hour basis, government establishments in the city, etc. – to complete the feasibility report.
The agency had also sought details of the projects on hand and those proposed in the next 10 years.
Once the agency finalises the feasibility report, the CMRL would engage the stakeholders to fine tune the report and only after they approved of it, would the agency proceed with preparing the detailed project report.
And, only the approved feasibility report would say the areas or corridors that the metro rail would serve, the sources further said and added that at present it would be premature to comment on either the areas covered or project cost.
The Chief Minister had more than a year ago announced the metro rail project for Coimbatore. This announcement came after repeated demands from political parties and civil society organisations in the city for a metro rail project.
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