Noida to get another metro line, Rs 2,682 crore project gets UP cabinet nod

The 15-km long metro line will connect Noida sector 71 to Greater Noida Knowledge Park

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday approved building a metro rail connecting Noida to Greater Noida for Rs 2,682 crore.

The 15-km long line will take three years to build and it will connect Noida Sector 71 to Greater Noida Knowledge Park,  said industrial development minister Satish Mahana.

Noida and Greater Noida authorities will each pay for the part falling in their jurisdiction.

The project was approved by the state cabinet during a meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow. “Now, we will take further steps for seeking the required approvals for the project,” Mahana told reporters after the meet.

Currently, UP has metro rail connectively in Noida, Ghaziabad and Lucknow. Work is ongoing on the Kanpur metro project.

On November 15, Adityanath and union minister of state (independent charge) for housing and urban affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri had flagged off civil work for Kanpur metro, which is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore, a massive cutback on last year’s initial estimated investment of almost Rs 18,000 crore.

Addressing the Urban Mobility India conference-cum-exhibition 2019 in Lucknow last month, the chief minister said the state government had filed an application in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking permission for starting the Agra metro rail project. 

SC's permission is needed as the project falls in the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ). It is a protected area of about 10,400 sq km around Taj Mahal. In response to a PIL seeking to protect the famous monument from environmental hazard, the apex court had banned industrial activities and the use of coal/coke in units located in the TTZ.

“As soon as we (UP government) get the Supreme Court permission, the work on the Agra Metro project would be launched,” he noted.

Besides, the BJP government in the state is also planning to launch ‘metrolite’ projects in other important towns, including Meerut, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Gorakhpur and Jhansi.

“We have prepared an action plan for launching the metro rail services in all these cities. In fact, the DPR (detailed project report) of some of these projects is ready and we want to speed them up,” the CM stated terming the metro services as a futuristic public transport solution.

In Lucknow, a 23 km north-south corridor of the metro rail service commenced operations this year after getting completed in a record time.

An east-west corridor has also been proposed in Lucknow.

To boost the prospects of metro in other cities, the Adityanath government has renamed Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) as UP Metro Rail Service (UPMRC).