Cabinet to take up Bengal projects today

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

FX problems symptom not cause: IMF's YoussefGold prices close in Rs 17K/10 gramFinmin: 3% deficit only by FY15

New Delhi , May 28 : It seems that keeping its Left partners happy is high on the agenda of the UPA government these days. On Thursday, t he Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is expected to take up and approve a new line for Kolkata’s metro network as well as consider as revival package for a chronically-sick public sector company based in the West Bengal capital.

The proposal to construct a metro rail line to connect the east and west parts of the Kolkata, under the ambit of the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, is aimed at easing traffic congestion on the city streets. The underground Metro Rail project will eventually connect Salt Lake in the north-east fringes of the city to the twin city of Howrah across the Ganga in the west.

The Japan Bank of International Co-operation (JBIC) is expected to bear 45 per cent of the project cost and the rest would be borne by the state and the Central governments. The state government is hopeful that the project would materialise by early next year.

To ensure fast moving trains, Kolkata’s second metro railway will essentially run on standard gauge rails. The project will see incorporation of all the latest technological advancement made in the field of tube railway.

The new project is slated to come up 22 metres below the ground surface. Unlike the existing underground railway, which has air cooling facilities, the east-west Metro project will be completely air conditioned. The proposed project will crisscross the existing north-south metro railway at the central station before winding its way under the Ganga to terminate at Howrah maidan station in the west.

The project will have an elevated run of 5.7 km from Swabhumi and a stretch of 8.3 kilometres below the ground. However, unlike rail projects in developed countries where different sections merge at various stations to allow commuters to change course, the East-West Metro Rail corridor will not be integrated with the existing north-south Metro Rail. The CCEA is also expected to take up a restructuring and rehabilitation package for the Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Limited (HDPEL), a shipyard that has continuously suffered losses since it was nationalized in 1984. Several factors like large manpower, limited facility, lack of orders, old plant and machinery that requires expansion as well as modernisation—have been responsible for HDPEL’s decline. The government has been paying around Rs 8.50 crore annually for payment of salaries and wages to the employees, via non-plan assistance. The shipyard has two working units in Howrah District of West Bengal, one at Salkia and another at Nazirgunge.