Gujarat govt sets up company to implement metro rail project

Traveling between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar has become terrible for common commuters. Most of the commuters rely on State Transport buses to travel between two cities which are located at almost 30 km distance. State Transport department loses thousands of Rupees daily on Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar route due to ticket conception given to passengers. Sometime it feels that idea of Gandhinagar has been failed due to it’s 30 km distance from Ahmedabad.

In such circumstances, lately the Gujarat government has floated a special purpose vehicle to implement the six years old Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro rail project on public-private partnership basis.

The state government has registered Metro link Express for Gandhinagar-Ahmedabad (MEGA) Company Ltd, which is a special purpose vehicle for the project.

“We have set up a company with Rs 200-crore share capital, which will first find a private player and then implement the project,” a senior official in the state urban development department said.

It may be recalled that in 2003 Vibrant Gujarat Investors’ Summit, Chief Minister Narendra Modi had proposed to link Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar with metro train modeled on Delhi Metro.

Subsequently, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was roped in to carry out pre-feasibility survey, which was completed in 2004-05. In 2003, when the project was conceived, its cost was worked out at Rs 4,500 crore, but now, according to sources in the government, the cost would go up substantially.

It is not known that how much time this project will take for planing and implementation now on.