MUMBAI: Construction of the Pune Metro is set to gain momentum with the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha-Metro) planning to call for tenders this month, a top official said on Saturday.
Brijesh Dixit, (IRSE), the Managing Director of the corporation, said, “Various surveys, [like] geo-technical, and soil surveys, are already going on at various locations on the Pune Metro. By April 2017, we plan start physical civil work.”
The Pune Metro Rail is coming up with an investment of ₹11,400 crore. 58% of this money will be mobilised through debt, and the rest will be equally funded by the State government and the Union government, who are the joint promoters of Maha-Metro.
The Centre has allocated ₹950 crore for the metro in the current Union Budget. The State government will also allocate funds to the project in its budget. The Maha-Metro is negotiating with the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) of China to raise debt for the project.
Mr. Dixit said the 31-kilometre-long metro will be constructed in two corridors and will have 31 stations. The North to South corridor will complete in 2021, and the Vanaz-Ramwadi corridor is scheduled to be operational by 2020.
The elevated section between the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Shivaji Nagar in the North-South corridor should be operational by the end of 2020. The underground section between Shivaji Nagar and Swargate would open in 2021. The metro is expected to have a daily ridership of 5.5 lakh.
Nagpur Metro by 2019
The Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited has now been reconstituted and will implement metro projects in Pune and Nagpur with Maha-Metro, under the leadership of Mr. Dixit.
The Nagpur Metro will be 38 km long, of which, work has progressed by 32% on a 22-km stretch.
Mr. Dixit said, “The first section of 5.5 kms will be operational by the end of this year.” The metro is scheduled to be operational by 2019 and will carry 3.5 lakh commuters daily.
The metro is coming up with an investment of ₹8,600 crore. While 42% of the project cost will be met by the State and the Centre, the balance has been raised by loan. FFW of Germany has lent 500 million Euros and AFD of France has advanced 130 million Euros to this project.
Last year the Centre and State had funded ₹815 crore to this project towards their equity. In the Union Budget, the Centre allocated ₹900 crore to the project.
The Maha-Metro has also signed an agreement with the Chennai Metro to procure two metro rail trains, with 4 rakes each, on lease. These will be deployed in the 5.5 kms stretch on Nagpur Metro. The rakes are surplus with the Chennai Metro and will earn rental revenue.
