Ahmedabad Metro: Rs3,000 crore spent, first stretch likely by year-end

More than Rs 3,000 crore has been spent for the Ahmedabad Metro Rail project, and there are plans to make the FIRs t stretch of the project operational by the end of this year, the state government said in the House on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said in a written reply in the assembly that expenditure of Rs 3,058.35 crore has been incurred on the Ahmedabad Metro project as of December 31, 2017. The total cost of the FIRs t two phases of the project is pegged at Rs 10,773 crore. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to extend a loan of Rs 6,066 crore for the project, while the state and central government have made an equity contribution of Rs 1,990 crore each.

In another reply, the Chief Minister revealed that the state government had allocated Rs 974.26 crore for the Metro project in 2016, and Rs 702.25 crore in 2017. "The expenditure incurred in 2016 was Rs 946.83 crore, and Rs 1,072.76 crore in 2017," he said.

"The civil work related to priority reach between Vastral village and Apparel Park of the Metro project's East-West Corridor is nearing completion. Work related to six stations is in progress. Works related to tracking, signalling and otheRs have also been started," the CM's reply said.

The reply further said that initial work of tunnel boring of the 6-km underground section of East-West corridor has also been started. Similarly, for the North-South corridor from Motera to APMC, civil work is going on.

"The Metro project will be made operational in phases. In the fiRs t phase, the 6.5 km stretch between Vastral and Apparel Park is planned to be made operational by the end of 2018," the CM said. However, Congress's deputy leader in the assembly Shailesh Parmar said that the Metro project is running behind schedule and looking at the pace of work, it is likely that it will not become operational even by 2020.

In another reply, the government said that the Vastral-Apparel Park stretch did not become operational in 2017 due to delay in tendering for Metro coaches and because some landowne Rs had approached High Court and Supreme Court.

ON TRACK

• Japan International Cooperation Agency has agreed to extend a loan of Rs 6,066 crore for the project, while state and central government have made an equity contribution of Rs 1,990 crore each.
   
• CM Rupani said the state government had allocated Rs 974.26 crore for the Metro project in 2016, and Rs 702.25 crore in 2017.