Phase II of Chennai Metro work to commence this year

Work on Phase II of Chennai Metro rail project covering 52 kilometre stretch would commence this year said to a senior official of the Chennai Metro.

“As you are aware, we have already signed loan agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for the first 52 km stretch of Phase II and for balance kilometres we have received in-principle approval from several international financial agencies,” said Pankaj Kumar Bansal, MD, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL).

He added that CMRL currently has in-principle approval from Asian Development Bank (ADB), New Development Bank (NDB), European infrastructure bank and World bank. Phase II of Chennai Metro covers 119 km which includes 3 corridors : Madhavaram to Sholinganallur, Madhavaram to CMBT and Light House to Meenakshi college out of which work would commence on the first 2 corridors covering 52 km. While the State government had submitted the Phase II proposal to the Centre in 2017, Bansal said, the Centre had subsequently modified the metro rail policy to include transit oriented development, value capturing financing and Public Private Partnership(PPP) model.

“Accordingly we have updated our comprehensive mobility plan and the State government has submitted the revised plan to the Central government 2 weeks before,” Bansal added. He also said that soil investigation, technical design consultancy and land acquisition process are underway in the 52 km stretch. “We will be calling the tender in the month of June and physical work should start during the year,” Bansal added.

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