After restoring the ambitious Ahmedabad metro rail project, the state government has decided to revive another project - the regional rail project.
After restoring the ambitious Ahmedabad metro rail project, the state government has decided to revive another project - the regional rail project, which will connect peripheral areas of Ahmedabad with the main city. The decision to revive the project has come nearly four years since it was first envisaged in 2005.
“At a recent high-level meeting chaired by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, it was decided that the regional rail project will be revived as well as extended to include Kadi, Kalol, Viramgam, Prantij, Mehmedabad and Anand,” a highly placed source in the state government said.
The original route included the 43.87 km Barajadi-Ahmedabad-Kalol stretch and 9.45 km Ahmedabad-Naroda stretch. The total length has now been increased to 288 km. The estimated cost in 2005 had been Rs2,500 crore, but is now expected to escalate.
The state government has assigned the work of preparing a new detailed project report (DPR) to RITES Ltd, the company run under the ministry of railways, the source said.
“The financial quotation submitted by RITES amounting to Rs3.75 crore has been approved by the government,” the source said.
A source said the state government has decided to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for both rail projects. “Regarding the metro rail project, the state government had in principle cleared the decision before the elections were announced. However, the government resolution was not made because of the code of conduct. The order will be made after the elections. The government will establish a 100 per cent equity-owned SPV for the metro rail project. The SPV will decide the developer and may choose a partner later on. For the regional rail project, the SPV is likely to partner the Central railways department. The decision will be cleared soon after the elections,” the source said.
The cost of both projects is likely to double as compared to the 2005 estimates as the area under the proposed rail networks has increased considerably. The cost of the Ahmedabad metro rail project is likely to be around Rs10,000. Under the 2005 study, the cost was estimated at Rs4,500 crore.
The government has included new project areas like the Gujarat International Finance Tech-City (GIFT), Special Investment Region (SIR), Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and others in the DPR of the metro rail.
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