New Delhi (NVI): The Union Cabinet today approved the Ministry of Railways proposal for revised cost estimate for construction of Kolkata East-West Metro Corridor Project at an estimated cost of Rs 8574.98 crore.
The announcement was made by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal during a cabinet meeting, alongside Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Dharmendra Pradhan.
Goyal in a virtual briefing said, the Kolkata East-West Metro Corridor Project will ease traffic congestion, enhance urban connectivity & provide a cleaner mobility solution to lakhs of daily commuters.
“This project will take mass rapid transport to new heights in Kolkata and will be completed in 14-15 months,” he added.
The total route length of the project is 16.6 km, comprising 12 stations. This will include construction of a metro corridor between Salt Lake Sector-V to Howrah Maidan in West Bengal.
However, the project is being implemented by a special purpose vehicle Kolkata Metro Rail Corp. Ltd set up under ministry of railways.
In an official statement, the Ministry of Railways said that the pre-pandemic target for completion of their project was December, 2021.
“Efforts are being taken to minimise the impact of pandemic on completion of the project. The project includes immense technological challenges like tunnel below river Ganges which is the 1st transportation tunnel in India under any major river as well as Howrah Station which is one of the deepest Metro stations in India,” it added.
The mega project will create transit connectivity between business district of Kolkata with industrial city of Howrah in west and Salt Lake City in east through a safe, accessible and comfortable mode of public transport.
“Since this corridor connects three most important parts of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area i.e. Howrah, Business area of Kolkata and New Settlements in Salt Lake it is going to revolutionize the mass rapid transport in Kolkata and adjoining Howrah and Bidhanangar,” the statement said, adding that, this will connect important landmarks like Howrah, Sealdah, Esplanade and Salt Lake Sector-V which is an IT hub,”
It will also integrate multiple modes of transport like the Metro, Sub-urban Railways, ferry and bus transport by constructing interchange hubs.
-RJV
