Centre to support Metro rail projects in 19 cities: Manmohan Singh

Noting that an efficient transport system was 'critical' for orderly growth of cities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the government has decided to support preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for Metro rail in all 19 cities with a population of over two million.

Laying the foundation for the Rs5,181 crore Kochi Metro project here, Singh said DPRs had already been prepared for 12 cities and Metro rail projects were being implemented in seven cities covering a total network of length 476 km at a cost of over Rs1.15 lakh crore.

The Delhi Metro is carrying about 22 lakh people daily, he said.

Pointing out that an efficient transport system was a service that was 'critical' to the orderly growth and development of cities, Singh said Metro rail was just one component of such a transport system.

"We need to build our cities with multimodal transport systems that efficiently integrate different modes of public transport like buses and trains. I understand that the Urban Development Ministry has taken several initiatives to promote sustainable transport practices in the country," he said.

These include support to Metro rail projects, Bus Rapid Transit Systems and sanction of city buses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

Singh said unless provisioning of services keeps pace with urbanisation, "we will face serious problems of haphazard urban growth, slums and crumbling city infrastructure."

At present, about 28 per cent people live in towns and cities which is expected to go up to 40% by 2031, amounting to 60 crore people and contributing over 70% of the GDP, he said.

"The high speed of urbanisation poses unprecedented managerial and policy challenges that we need to respond to."

The Prime Minister said the Centre was also providing assistance for implementation of Bus Rapid Transit System projects in 11 cities with a network of over 437 km costing more than Rs5,500 crore.

Under JNNURM, the government has sanctioned over 15,000 low floor buses for mission cities totally costing over Rs4,700 crore and committed over Rs2,000 crore of assistance for the JNNURM buses, he said.

Describing Kochi as one of the fastest growing urban agglomerations, Singh said it has emerged as one of the most important ports and was expected to evolve as an economic and logistical hub with the operationalisation of International Container Transhipment Terminal at nearby Valarpadam.

Kochi is the eighth city in the country to get the Metro. The newly sanctioned Metro line will run 25 km from Aluva to Petta. The central government will contribute Rs1,000 crore for the project out of the total project cost.