Project reports on Meerut, Agra Metros submitted to government

Detailed project reports (DPRs) of the Meerut and Agra Metro Rail Projects were on Thursday formally submitted to the Uttar Pradesh government here.

Kumar Keshav, Managing Director of the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC), along with senior officials of Meerut and Agra, presented the reports to Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan.

The government had assigned the LMRC the responsibility of coordinating the preparation of the detailed project reports for Metro Rail in Kanpur, Varanasi, Meerut and Agra.

The Agra Development Authority (ADA) and the Meerut Development Authority (MDA) were the nodal agencies for the preparation of these DPRs for the Metro Rail Projects in the two cities.

RITES, an engineering consultancy undertaking of the government of India for the railways, was engaged for preparing the DPRs.

Through successive site visits, engineering surveys and review meetings/discussions with the commissioners of Agra and Meerut and ADA and MDA officials since February 2015, the Metro Rail corridors for the two cities were finalised, an official told IANS.

Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said: "The government will shortly approve the DPRs."

The Meerut Metro DPR envisages two corridors of total 35-km length. The 20-km long first corridor stretches from Partapur to Modipuram, with an elevated stretch of 12.8 km and an underground stretch of 7.2 km.

The 15-km long second corridor stretches from Shradhapuri Phase II to Jagriti Vihar with an elevated stretch of 10.7 km and an underground stretch of 4.3 km.

The Agra Metro DPR envisages two corridors of total 30 km length. The first corridor that is 14-km long spans Sikandara to Taj East Gate, covering an elevated section of 6.4 km and an underground section of 7.6 km.

The second corridor is a fully elevated from Agra Cantt to Kalindi Vihar, a length of 16 km.

The total estimated completion cost for the Agra and Meerut projects stands respectively at Rs 10,830 crore and Rs 11,544 crore.

These projects are envisaged as joint ventures between the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government with 50:50 equity partnerships.

--IANS

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