The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday agreed to partially fund the Noida-Greater Noida Metro Rail Project being built at a cost of ₹5,503 crore.
The Cabinet formally approved the project, which will pave way for the Centre to provide ₹970.62 crore “in equity and subordinate debt”.
Noida Authority CEO Amit Mohan Prasad said, “We have yet not received any communication from the Centre. We are looking at the mode of payment made by Centre as our target to meet the deadline.”
The Noida-Greater Noida metro project is being implemented by Noida Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRCL), a State-owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will be converted into a joint SPV of the Government of India and the Uttar Pradesh government for the implementation of the project.
In full swing
The metro corridor is already in an advanced stage of construction and is scheduled to be completed by April 2018, according to the Detailed Project Report. About 70% of civil work and 40% of overall financial progress of the project have been achieved.
Announcing the Cabinet decision, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the metro corridor will be 29.707-km-long and fully elevated.
The Metro rail connection between Noida and Greater Noida will provide assured mobility to people and encourage development of more residential and commercial complexes in this region.
Stylish look
The metro trains will sport a stylish look. Nineteen aqua colour trains will run on the route and each train will have four coaches with 186 seating and 848 standing persons’ capacity.
LED lights will be used in the headlights of the trains.
A senior NMRCL official said the average speed of the metro rail would be 35km per hour.
The population of Noida and Greater Noida, as per the 2011 Census, is about 7.5 lakh and is projected to grow to 19 lakh by 2021.
People from Delhi and surrounding areas are also preferring to settle in Noida and Greater Noida.
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.
Noida does not have a railway station and the nearest station is Hazarat Nizamuddin at a distance of about 15 km. The nearest airport in Delhi is at about 30 km from Noida.
