The Chennai Monorail project, which has just overcome a legal tangle on the mode of transportation, is facing another and unanticipated hurdle. This time, it is about tariff. And the city’s wait for the monorail may just get longer.
With the notification of the project under the Metro Railways Act last month, the element of uncertainty about the mode – tramway or railway – has been cleared. But one of the implications of the notification is that it is the fare fixation committee, to be constituted by the Central government, which can recommend the fare and not the project developer as envisaged originally.
As per the legal provisions, the Union Urban Development Ministry will form the committee with one representative each from the Union and State and a sitting or former High Court judge as the chairperson.
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As the first phase of the Monorail project has been conceived under the Public-Private Partnership model with limited financial support from the State, the shortlisted bidders representing two consortia — Essel along with Scomi and IL&FS Transportation Network along with CNR — will have to indicate their workings on the fare system as part of their proposals for the project which includes total cost. To enable them to do their work, the basic fare of Chennai Metrorail is required. A senior official says that the basic fare of the Metrorail is not yet ready.
Last week, when the empowered committee met under the chairmanship of Transport Minister V. Senthil Balaji, it deliberated on the tariff issue.
On the applicability of the Metrorail’s fare system for Monorail, an official replied in the affirmative and said the data on per km and per stage rates will be relevant. Another official says the tariff issue need not become a hurdle if the project developer agrees to a fare lower than the one the fare fixation committee is expected to come up with.
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