Centre approves Chennai monorail project

The central government has accorded "in-principle" approval to the first phase of the Chennai monorail project, an official release said here Thursday.

Under the project, monorail services will be provided between Poonamalle and Kathipara in Chennai with a link from Porur to Vadapalani with a total length of 20.68 km to be built at an estimated cost of Rs.3,267 crore.

The urban development ministry gave the go-ahead to the Tamil Nadu government for taking up the Chennai Monorail Project (CMP) Phase-1, the release said.

As per the approval accorded last week, the project would be implemented under 'Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT)' model with entire funding coming from the state government and government agencies in the PPP model without any financial support from the Centre.

According to the stipulated conditions in the approval, the Tamil Nadu government would ensure price-based measures to promote ridership as part of an integrated traffic rationalisation plan for the city to ensure ridership and a suitable arrangement, independent of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for periodic fare revision for other competing modes.

The state government would also have to provide multi-modal integration, including suburban railways to provide network connectivity in the region to provide seamless travel and set up a unified metropolitan transport authority, duly backed by legislation, to facilitate coordinated planning and implementation of urban transport projects.

The government of Tamil Naidu and the Centre would set up a joint oversight mechanism, the details of which would be incorporated in the Memorandum of Understanding to be signed between the two.