Cabinet nod to Metro rail in Nagpur

New Delhi: In a pre-election bonanza to Maharashtra, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared a Rs 8,860 crore metro project in Nagpur, which will become the latest city in the country to have the modern transportation service.

Assembly elections in Maharashtra are due later this year. 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. To execute the project, the Cabinet approved setting up of Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation, a senior Urban Development Ministry official said. While Urban Development Secretary will be the Chairman of the corporation, the Managing Director will be nominated by the Maharashtra government. The company will have 10 nominee Directors on its Board. These would be five nominees of the Government of India and five nominees of the Government of Maharashtra. 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.