Govt allocates ₹23,500-cr for Metro & RRTS corridor projects

The Union Budget has allocated ₹23,500 crore for Mass Rapid Transit System projects, which includes all Metro projects across the country and the RRTS project. The country's first high-speed Regional Rapid Transit System corridor (Delhi to Meerut), being constructed by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), got a massive boost with ₹4,472 crore. Around ₹18,998 crore has been allocated to Metro projects and ₹30 crore for transport planning and capacity building in urban transport. There is no separate allocation for Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which is currently constructing three priority corridors of its Phase-IV project.

In recent years, the Union ministry of finance has been providing a Budget for all Metro projects in India in totality instead of separately to each undertaking. But earlier, grants to DMRC were allocated separately and DMRC would ask for funds according to its requirement from the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs.

The allocation for Metro projects also includes equity investment of ₹3,454.9 crore, pass- through assistance of ₹13,825.3 crore and ₹1,717.8 crore as subordinate debt, which is the cost of land acquisition and central taxes. Construction of the 82-km Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor is in full swing and work has been started on the 17-km priority section between Sahibabad and Duhai and also on the Delhi portion.