Chandigarh: The Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday held a meeting with officials of Punjab and Haryana governments to discuss the issue of land demanded by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the ambitious Metro Rail Project.
DMRC has asked all the three stakeholders to transfer around 200 acres to special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Greater Chandigarh Transport Corporation (GCTC) for generating recurring income through property development.
Of the total, Chandigarh will have to contribute around 120 acres as the majority of the proposed corridors fall in its area.
DMRC has also given an option to all the three stakeholders of either transferring the land or contributing Rs 1,000 crore every year towards the SPV. Out of Rs 1,000, Chandigarh will have to chip in with around Rs 750 crore.
The meeting was attended by UT Adviser Parimal Rai, Finance Secretary Sarvjit Singh, Transport Secretary K K Jindal, representatives of DMRC and officials of Punjab and Haryana governments. According to senior UT officials, Punjab and Haryana officials will now discuss the issue with their governments for taking a final call.
According to sources, Chandigarh is not in a position to contribute around 120 acres of land due to limited land available with the administration. Chandigarh will request the governments of Punjab and Haryana to meet the land requirement.
As per official records, there are around 2,900 acres of vacant land left in Chandigarh, of which only around 650 acres are in the possession of the administration.
The meeting discussed various proposals for revenue generation through commercial activities, advertisements in stations, renting out of commercial outlets inside stations, quick service restaurants and increasing floor area ratio (FAR) along the Metro corridors. FAR is the ratio of the total floor area of a building to the area of land it is built on. The options of imposing Metro cess, tax on commercial vehicles entering the city and green cess on registration of new vehicles to generate funds were also deliberated.
The project has been marred by delays. The work on the first phase was scheduled to be started from 2013. Due to delay, the cost of the project has escalated. According to the revised detailed project report prepared by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, the project will cost Rs 13,600 crore and Chandigarh’s share will be around Rs 5,000 crore. The earlier estimated cost of the project was Rs 10,900 crore.













The DMRC will be providing assistance to the NMRC until the later develops the expertise to operate and maintain the corridor itself. “The assistance would be rendered during the pre-commercial operation period and three years post-commercial operation period of the NMRC. The agreement may be extended with mutual consent,” a statement from the DMRC said. The construction work of the 30-km-long corridor is already being executed by DMRC on behalf of NMRC. The structural work on the corridor, that will have 21 stations, is expected to be completed by March 2017. The DMRC has been involved in planning or construction of almost all Metro rail projects across the country.

