New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lay foundation stone of ambitious Metro Rail today at Nagpur. BJP is trying hard to get Prime Minister’s time to lay foundation stone for this project. Modi is also scheduled to inaugurate the Mouda Super Thermal Power Project Phase I and a flyover on National Highway 6, all in Nagpur.
The Prime Minister will be accompanied by Governor K Sankaranarayanan and Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal. However, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had decided to skip the event to avoid the embarrassment faced by fellow Congress CM of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda who was booed by BJP workers at a stone-laying ceremony at Kaithal on Tuesday.
Union Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari is trying hard to lay foundation stone before announcement of election code of conduct for ensuing assembly elections. The total cost of the project is around Rs 10,526 crore as per present market cost. The cost of metro rail has increased by almost Rs 2,500 crores during intervening period. The DMRC has proposed Mumbai-like elevated Metro rail. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar may also share dais with Prime Minister, sources confirmed.
The 38.215-km-long project, scheduled to be completed by March 2018, will be funded on equal sharing basis between the state and the Centre with the latter contributing Rs 1,555 crore as equity and subordinate debt. Nagpur Metro will connect 19.658 km of north-south corridor and 18.557 km of east-west corridor.
The proposed north-south and east-west alignments are expected to provide much needed connectivity to commuters and would traverse through some of the densest and traffic- congested areas of the Orange city. The alignments are also expected to bring connectivity to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), educational institutions and logistic hubs in the city.
The two corridors, together, are expected to bring about a total transformation in the city’s urban transportation scenario by considerably reducing traffic congestion and bringing in a fast, comfortable, safe and affordable mass transportation system for the people of Nagpur.
Nagpur with a population of 24 lakh people is the third largest city of Maharashtra and 13th largest in the country. The project is scheduled to be completed by March 2018. Metro services are operational Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore and under various stages on construction in cities including Jaipur and Kochi.
NIT has been appointed as nodal agency for implementation of Metro Rail project in the city. The project would get funds from the Central and State Government under ambitious JNNURM project for promotion of public transport to decongest the city and improve mobility of citizens. The Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC) has prepared Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for orange city. As per report around 3.63 lakh commuters out of total population of 28.59 lakh may use Metro Rail.
Bureau Report
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