27.11.09

MEGA snippets

Ahmedabad could be getting closer to its dream of riding a metro train after the Gujarat government agreed to bear 50 per cent of the project cost on lines of the Chennai metro project model. The wholly-elevated metro rail project is expected to cost Rs 7,000 crore. The state government has recently set up a Rs 200-crore company for the execution of the project which is likely to be called Metro Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA). Sources said the formalities for the formation of the special purpose vehicle (SPV) MEGA have already been cleared. On an average, some 50,000 people commute between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar daily. The project had failed to make any headway because the state government wanted the Railways to entirely fund the project. At a recent meeting of state government and railway officials, the Rs 14,600-crore Chennai Metro Rail, which is a joint venture between the Centre and Tamil Nadu, was adopted as a model. Minister of state for transport Amit Shah admitted that the state government had called for details of the Chennai model. He said the government was keen to go ahead with the project. The 100-km metro route will be totally elevated and has been approved in principle by the Union government, according to Gujarat Industrial Development Board sources. The north-south corridor will start at APMC in Vasna and go up to Gandhinagar. The eastwest corridor will start from Kalupur station and will be extended up to Thaltej.

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