High on adrenaline, post the thumping victory at the recently-concluded by-elections, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav brought the development plank back on centrestage by kick-starting work on the R6,880-crore Lucknow Metro project in Lucknow on Saturday.
The project is to be implemented on a 50:50 model (DMRC model) with equity sharing by the Centre and the UP government and over 50% of the project (R3,502 crore) is to be funded through senior debt from multilateral/ bilateral agencies. With this, Lucknow entered the hallowed portals of the select few cities in the country which have a world-class mass rapid transit system that is convenient, safe, fast, reliable and cost-effective and which would go a long way in managing the burgeoning traffic on the city roads.
After the ground-breaking ceremony, the chief minister termed the Lucknow Metro as the lifeline of the city and said that the project would not only ease the traffic and bring cheer to its populace but would also give a major infrastructural boost to the city. ?The Samajwadi Party government is aiming to bring world-class infrastructure to the city of Lucknow. ?All efforts would be made to finish the project by 2016,? he said adding that UP was the ?lone? state in the country where the Metro project was underway simultaneously at three places?Noida, Ghaziabad and Lucknow. ?There is no other state where the project is being carried out simultaneously at so many places at one time,? he said, adding the rapid growth of the city and the associated urban sprawl have accentuated the demand-supply mismatch amidst constrained public transport infrastructure.
The first phase of the project would be along the north-south corridor, which will stretch along 22.878 km from the Amausi airport to Munshipullia and which is expected to be developed at a cost of R6,880 crore. Giving details of the project, chief secretary ALok Ranjan said that of this entire stretch, 19.438 km would be elevated while 3.440 km would be underground construction. ?Out of this entire north-south corridor, a stretch of 8 km, from the airport to the Charbagh railway station, has been identified as the priority segment, for which L&T has been selected for the civil work while French company Systra has been selected by the state government for designing the Metro stations and viaducts. The cost of constructing this stretch would be R2,000 crore and work is expected to be completed by December 2016,? he said, adding that the Uttar Pradesh and the central governments will participate on the basis of 50:50 equity model for financing the project and said that the state government has also decided to seek external loan of R3,502 crore for the project.
Since the entire priority stretch of 8 km would be on elevated ground, it is expected to incur the least resistance and hence face the least delays as well, said an official of Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation, requesting anonymity.