Chennai metro gets ₹3,100-cr funding

The state has allocated 3,100 crore for construction of Chennai Metro Rail Project's phase-2 spanning 118.9 km. The state has also requested the Centre to approve funding for the project and provide 50% equity share capital as was done for phase-1 of the project, said finance minister O Panneerselvam, and added that in the last Budget, the state had allocated 2,681 crore for phase-2 as share capital and debt. Funding from Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) has been obtained for 52.01km from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur and also from Madhavaram to Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT). Detailed designs are ready and construction work on the project will begin shortly. Financing from multilateral agencies including Asian Development Bank (ADB), Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and New Development Bank (NDB) is being firmed up for the remaining stretches of phase-2 from CMBT to Sholinganallur, Sholinganllur to SIPCOT, Siruseri and from Light House to Poonamallee bypass.