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Tricity Metro project: Punjab pays its ₹1.37-crore share for DPR
The DPR is expected to be ready by March 2024, following which further approvals will be taken. It will include cost estimates, financials, design, institutional arrangement, planning and implementation plan for the best recommended MRTS mode
Over one month after the UT administration and all stakeholders decided to prepare an alternative analysis report (AAR) and a detailed project report (DPR) for the Metro project, Punjab government on Friday released ₹1.37 crore as its share for the DPR’s preparation.
A senior UT officer said Haryana was also expected to pay its share within a week. The total cost of the DPR is around ₹7 crore.
The report is expected to be ready by March 2024, following which further approvals will be taken. It will include cost estimates, financials, design, institutional arrangement, planning and implementation plan for the best recommended MRTS mode.
The tentative cost of the Metro project is around ₹10,570 crore, of which 20% will be paid by the states, 20% by the Centre and remaining 60% by the lending agency.
On July 18, UT administration had decided that it would take on board all stakeholders in preparation of the AAR and DPR for Metro Rail as per the guidelines of the Government of India.
The 23-member Unified Metro Transportation Authority (UMTA), which met on July 18 approved the Tricity Metro Project, has decided to extend the scope of the project for the first phase from 66 to 77 km. The first phase will now start from Parol in New Chandigarh (Mohali) and end at Panchkula Extension in Sector 20.
In the first phase, which will be developed between 2027 and 2037, the Metro has been proposed on three routes — Parol, Sarangpur, ISBT Panchkula to Panchkula Extension (29 km); Rock Garden to ISBT Zirakpur via Industrial Area and Chandigarh Airport (35 km); and from Grain Market Chowk, Sector 39, to Transport Chowk, Sector 26 (13 km).
In the second phase, which will be developed after 2037, the Metro has been proposed on Airport Chowk to Manakpur Kallar (5 km) and ISBT Zirakpur to Pinjore (20 km).
The Metro would mostly run overground. It was decided that the Rail India Technical and Economic Service agency will make the DPR and AAR for the project, which would be done at a cost of ₹6.54 crore. Both reports will be ready by March next year.
Nearly 14 years after it was first mooted, the Punjab and Haryana governments, and the Chandigarh administration, had given the Metro project their in-principle nod during a meeting on a comprehensive mobility plan on March 16. The project is aimed at controlling the burgeoning traffic problems and vehicular density of the tricity.
