Title - Reassess proposed metro route, submit report within 10 days: CM tells officials

LUCKNOW: The much-touted metro rail project in Lucknow may soon see some significant changes in the route with officials working on a plan to do away with one of the corridors and instead going ahead with just one to bring down the construction cost of the project.Sources privy to the meeting held between the CM and members of the Planning Commission on Monday told TOI that the government is exploring ways to bring down the construction cost of the project to make it economically viable. One of the ways is to scrap one corridor, with chances of the East-West Corridor stretching from Vasantkunj up to Charbagh area of getting scrapped being high. The North-South Corridor extending from Amausi airport to Munshipulia may get a final nod after few changes.The meeting followed a presentation on the metro rail project, which discussed challenges of building a successful metro project in Lucknow. According to sources, the CM has instructed chief secretary to constitute a committee to reassess the proposed metro route and submit its final report in the next 10 days. Another significant instruction which came from the CM was to compare the cost and merits of building a metro rail project vis-a-vis Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Lucknow after considering all the aspects of city's roadways and infrastructure.If the officials are to be believed, the team is also thinking to re-align the metro route with some of the developing colonies and townships, so that the real estate developers and private builders may pool in money to share the cost burden. Accordingly, plans are to extend the Amausi-Munshipulia corridor to even Gomtinagar extension, Chinhat and various other group housing projects on that route to make the metro-link economically viable.

A team from the Planning Commission and DMRC on Sunday visited the depot sites and weighed options to make the project less cost-bearing.

Senior government officials including the chief secretary, principal secretary of urban development, secretary of LDA, municipal commissioner and principal secretary to CM were also present in the Monday meeting called to evaluate various options and decide on the final metro route, which can bring down the construction and operational cost of the project.

The cost of the original plan was pegged at around Rs 15,000 crore, which the state government is unable to bear at the moment. The cost has risen tremendously as a major part of the route lies underground due to scarcity of land. As a result, the constructions cost has gone up by almost 3-4 times. Therefore the committee will explore the possibility of converting most of the route into elevated form to bring down the cost. The cost of constructing per km of elevated metro track is around Rs 150 crore, whereas for underground, it touches Rs 600 crore.

As a part of this plan, the committee would also see if the route can be directed through some of the government lands, which can be obtained free of cost. This would bring down the cost significantly. An official privy to the meeting told TOI, "We have to find ways to bring down the cost to about Rs 8,000 crore to make the project feasible for the state government. For this we have to change the route and direct it through private colonies and government lands. The government is pretty serious about constructing a suitable mass rapid transit system in the city for an easy, safe and affordable commuting for the people."

The metro rail project was proposed in 2008 during Mayawati's regime, but it could never take off due to the enormous cost entailed by it. In fact, the present CM had also dismissed the project a few months back stating that it was beyond the financial capacity of the state to bear the burden and instead, preferred to build a BRTS in the city, which would have corridors exclusively for the movement of buses on roads.