Chennai Metro Rail Phase II finally gets Centre’s green light

Cabinet approves Chennai Metro Rail Project Phase II
The Union Cabinet has approved the Chennai Metro Rail’s phase II project, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on October 3, 2024. | Video Credit: The Hindu

The ₹63,246 crore phase II project will span across 118.9 km with 128 stations and will have multi-modal integration at 21 locations

Updated - October 04, 2024 01:43 pm IST - Chennai

The Union Cabinet, on Thursday (October 3, 2024), finally approved the Chennai Metro Rail’s phase II project giving much needed impetus to the project.

The ₹63,246 crore phase II project will span across 118.9 km with 128 stations and will have multi-modal integration at 21 locations. As per a release, the approval is for three corridors of the phase II project—Madhavaram to SIPCOT (corridor 3), Light House to Poonamallee (corridor 4) and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (corridor 5).

Of the total cost of ₹63,246 crore, the Centre will now be contributing ₹7,425 crore towards this project. ₹33,593 crore will be coming in as bilateral and multilateral loans from different banks. The remaining ₹22,228 crore will be from the State government.

Watch: Why the Centre must also fund the Chennai Metro Phase II project | Data Point

Last week, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had yet again sought the Centre’s share for this project. Sources in Chennai Metro Rail said, in the last couple of days, there had been numerous queries from the Centre regarding the project.

“From land acquisition to the extension, there were several questions. One of the key points was, why the length of the project was changed almost three times. From the initial 107 km, it went upto 118.9 km and the cost too was changed quite a few times. They needed justification for all these issues and it was answered,” a source said.

There is expected relief in the State government camp, who are confident that the Centre’s contribution of ₹7,425 crore will come through soon. There is expectation that the current pace of the project will pick up, sources said.

Mr. Stalin on Thursday (October 3, 2024) said the long-pending demand of the people of Tamil Nadu had been addressed now. ‘‘We are confident of completing the project at the earliest,’’ the Chief Minister said on social media platform X.

He also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accepting the State’s request during his meeting with him recently, and approving the second phase of the Chennai Metro Rail Project.

Many congested and busy locations including Vadapalani, Purasaiwalkam, Adyar, Nungambakkam, Thirumayilai, Sholinganallur, Taramani, Nandanam and Porur in the city will stand to benefit, as the trains will run through the stations to be set up in these areas.

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