In a major victory of sorts, the Akhilesh Yadav government’s ambitious Lucknow Metro project got clearance from the Union ministry of finance’s Public Investment Board (PIB) on Thursday.
At a meeting with the PIB in New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Alok Ranjan presented the case for the project, which cleared the way for the state to receive loan of Rs 3,500 crore from foreign financial agencies for the project besides the Rs 1,300 crore that the Centre would also provide for it.
Announcing the clearance in Lucknow on Thursday at the Infrastructure Summit 2015, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said it was a big day for the state.
“Now that all the hurdles have been cleared, the first phase of the Lucknow Metro project should be completed before the 2017 assembly elections in the state,” the chief minister said.