New Delhi April 11:
In what will be a major boost for new projects in Punjab, the Planning Commission has told the state that the commission was ready to “assist” it in setting up a metro rail project for the industrial city of Ludhiana.
The commission wants the Rs 6,600-crore metro rail project in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Last week, the Minister of State for Planning, Ashwani Kumar, shot off a letter to the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, saying, “The Planning Commission would be happy to assist the state government with advice on exploring the execution of this project under the PPP model.”
The Planning Commission had provided a similar assistance to the metro rail projects of Hyderabad and Mumbai in the recent past when the projects were bid. Ashwani Kumar, who is a Congress MP from Punjab, said “the state will incur minimal cost for the project as it can avail various method of financing.” This includes equity participation, debt, grants and funding from mutli-lateral agencies like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank, the minister added.
The Punjab Government and the Planning Commission had conducted preliminary discussions sometime in July 2009. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) prepared the detailed project report and suggested two corridors cutting across the congested city of Ludhiana. These are: from Ayali Chowk to BBMB power house at Jamalpur (15 km); Gill village to Rahon Road, Chungi ( 13 km). The two lines will have 14 and 13 stations, respectively.
For Punjab, the worrying part would be that the other two PPP mode metros of Hyderabad and Mumbai are not running as per schedule. The Hyderabad metro is yet to see any physical work. The Mumbai metro is running behind schedule even though work has started in the right earnest. The private developers are helpless. The land is not given to them. They are not given the permission to fly over the Western Railway tracks in Mumbai. The other metro in PPP mode is the swank New Airport express line. Even in the privately developed metros, 20 per cent is viability gap funding from the Centre.
The states are also funding in different ways. For Ludhiana, the metro has been talked about since 2003. The city roads are clogged, thanks to phenomenal growth. As far back as 2003, the Rail India Technological and Economic Services (RITES) had suggested that “a rail-based mass transport system seems to be the only viable alternative to meet the increasing long-term needs of the city.” The RITES had been tasked by the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana to conduct a survey of traffic pattern, infrastructure and increasing transport demand in the city.
In what will be a major boost for new projects in Punjab, the Planning Commission has told the state that the commission was ready to “assist” it in setting up a metro rail project for the industrial city of Ludhiana.
The commission wants the Rs 6,600-crore metro rail project in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Last week, the Minister of State for Planning, Ashwani Kumar, shot off a letter to the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, saying, “The Planning Commission would be happy to assist the state government with advice on exploring the execution of this project under the PPP model.”
The Planning Commission had provided a similar assistance to the metro rail projects of Hyderabad and Mumbai in the recent past when the projects were bid. Ashwani Kumar, who is a Congress MP from Punjab, said “the state will incur minimal cost for the project as it can avail various method of financing.” This includes equity participation, debt, grants and funding from mutli-lateral agencies like the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank, the minister added.
The Punjab Government and the Planning Commission had conducted preliminary discussions sometime in July 2009. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) prepared the detailed project report and suggested two corridors cutting across the congested city of Ludhiana. These are: from Ayali Chowk to BBMB power house at Jamalpur (15 km); Gill village to Rahon Road, Chungi ( 13 km). The two lines will have 14 and 13 stations, respectively.
For Punjab, the worrying part would be that the other two PPP mode metros of Hyderabad and Mumbai are not running as per schedule. The Hyderabad metro is yet to see any physical work. The Mumbai metro is running behind schedule even though work has started in the right earnest. The private developers are helpless. The land is not given to them. They are not given the permission to fly over the Western Railway tracks in Mumbai. The other metro in PPP mode is the swank New Airport express line. Even in the privately developed metros, 20 per cent is viability gap funding from the Centre.
The states are also funding in different ways. For Ludhiana, the metro has been talked about since 2003. The city roads are clogged, thanks to phenomenal growth. As far back as 2003, the Rail India Technological and Economic Services (RITES) had suggested that “a rail-based mass transport system seems to be the only viable alternative to meet the increasing long-term needs of the city.” The RITES had been tasked by the Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana to conduct a survey of traffic pattern, infrastructure and increasing transport demand in the city.
