Metro rail to go high on technology,low on frills

The state government may be pitching for the ambitious metro rail project,but the biggest hurdle it is likely to face is escalating costs as now the metro will be extended beyond Ahmedabad to Dholera.

The state government may be pitching for the ambitious metro rail project,but the biggest hurdle it is likely to face is escalating costs as now the metro will be extended beyond Ahmedabad to Dholera. The original plan was to connect Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar,but covering such a short distance did not seem financially viable.

In order to make it affordable while widening the scope,Metro-link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) Company,the special purpose vehicle (SPV) executing the project,has decided to cut down on the frills.

Highly placed sources involved in the key decision making of the project told The Indian Express,Considering the affordability

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to the end users with minimum requirement standards,the government is planning to adopt a low-end semi-luxury model for the proposed project.

At present,per kilometre cost in other metro cities is coming around Rs 200 crore while our attempt is to use semi-luxury customised specifications and bring

the cost down to Rs130- Rs150 crore per km, said the source,adding that the current estimate to connect 140 kms between Dholera and Gandhinagar is

Rs 21,000 crore.

While director and executive chairman of MEGA Sanjay Gupta,a former bureaucrat,could not be contacted,an official said that compared to the Delhi metro,the interiors of the MEGA coach may not be as swanky but the focus will be on technology,which is aimed to be more advanced than that of Delhi.

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Even the metro stations,located at an interval of 800-1000 metres,will be designed in a cost effective manner minus the luxury, said the official.

Officials at MEGA are now looking at metro in comparison to the Bus Rapid Transit System,which has become hugely popular in Ahmedabad. Work on the first phase of the project,connecting Sarkhej-Vasna-Ashram Road-Motera,covering 24 kms,has already started and it is estimated to cost Rs 3,400 crore.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi is very keen to showcase this project by the 2012 Assembly elections so the project is expected to see substantial development in the next two-three months,said a source.

Orange signages indicating locations of metro rail stations have already come up at various places in the city and the metro depot is planned near the Motera stadium.

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The government is yet to take a final decision on the financing model to be adopted for the project. Either provisions may be made in the forthcoming budget or it could adopt a public-private partnership model.

This decision will be taken in the cabinet,although assistance has also been sought from the Centre,added sources.

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