Tamilnadu sanctions 550 Crore for Chennai Metro

Thursday, 11 June 2009, 01:49 IST   |    3 Comments
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Chennai: The Tamilnadu government has sanctioned 550 crore for the first phase of the Chennai Metro Rail project, Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said here Wednesday. "For the phase one of the project, the state government has sanctioned 550 crore and the central government 13 crore," Stalin told reporters here after inaugurating the piling work for building an elevated viaduct for the 14,600-crore project. The rapid transit project, which is expected to go on stream by 2014-15, is being implemented by a special purpose vehicle Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. Stalin said 59 percent of the project cost will be funded by a concessional loan from the Japanese government. The central government will contribute 15 percent as equity and 5 percent as debt, with the balance being funded by the state. The first phase of the project consists of two corridors with a combined length of 45 km. The 23.1-km long first corridor will run from Washermanpet to the Chennai airport via Anna Salai, while the the second one will run from Chennai Central to St.Thomas Mount via Koyambedu. A five-member consortium led by Egis Rail SA of France have been appointed as general consultants to assist Chennai Metro Rail in design, supervision, quality control and safety of the project.
Source: IANS