The Tamil Nadu Government has kick-started its ambitious Monorail Mass Rapid Transit System (monorail) for Chennai with a revised route plan at a slightly higher cost per km than earlier planned.

A 20.68-km monorail from Poonamallee to Kathipara with a link from Porur to Vadaplani costing ₹3,235 crore, will be offered to private companies under the Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis.

This means there will not be any financial commitment for the State Government. In 2011, the State Government issued a request for qualification (RFQ) for 111-km phase I network cost ₹16,650 crore or ₹150 crore for each km. There were no takers for this, sources said.

Revised plan

However, in the revised plan, the Government will start with the 20.68 km monorail at ₹156.43 crore per km. The route will be Poonamallee -Porur-Kathipara and a link from Porur to Vadaplani along Arcot Road, said sources in Metropolitan Corporation of Chennai, the nodal agency for the project.

MTC has issued a request for qualification to invite private companies qualify for the pre-bid stage.

In the earlier plan, four monorail lines were planned. However, the State Government later dropped the Vandalur to Puzhal via Avadi (54 km) corridor, as it was passing through areas with little traffic. This made it financially unviable, said Government sources.

Traffic congestion

The Tamil Nadu Government wants to introduce monorail to reduce traffic congestion and to increase the share of public transport in the urban transport network.

The aim is to increase the share of public transport in Chennai from 27 per cent to 46 per cent by 2026.

Last week, monorail was successfully launched in Mumbai. Cities such as Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Delhi are also pursuing monorail projects.

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