Gurgaon Metro: Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation has given its nod for Metro connectivity to Old Gurgaon

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20/02/2015

Gurgaon: The Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation (HMRTC) has given its nod for Metro connectivity to Old Gurgaon, reply to an RTI application has revealed.

“Old Gurgaon is one of the city’s most crowded regions and figures show that route can benefit the most from Metro connectivity,” Aseem Takiyar, a city-based RTI activist who filed the query, said.

“The board of directors of HMRTC, in its meeting (held on December 24), has decided to provide Metro connectivity to the populated area of Old Gurgaon and has further decided that feasibility report of this project may be prepared…,” the response said.
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Gurgaon MLA Umesh Aggarwal told Newsline, “After the December meeting,we started working on the feasibility report that eventually got approved. This project will benefit over one lakh commuters daily.”

According to Rapid Metro, the route will stretch for 12 km and have 11 stations, Aggarwal said. “The routes we are looking at are from Gurgaon railway station and Huda City Metro station. Between this, the route will cover Sector 4-5 Chowk, Sector 4-7 Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Sohna Chowk and Subhash Chowk.”

Aggarwal said the project is going to cost Rs 300 crore per km, amounting to about Rs 4,200 crore for the 12 km route. “We are very excited about this opportunity and our full support is with the relevant authorities. We look forward to the project taking place,” a spokesperson of Rapid Metro said.

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Lucknow Metro: Govt. of UP has formed committee to determine compensation of lands to be acquired under metro project.

By

Narendra Shah

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20/02/2015

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Lucknow: Government of Uttar Pradesh has formed a committee under the DM to determine compensation of lands to be acquired under metro project. The compensation rate would be decided after the mutual consent of land owner. The committee will study all GOs, notifications, directions and prevalent market rates to determine the land acquisition rate. Its recommendations will then be approved by the LMRC Board.

Consent of land owners will also be sought on decided rates before acquiring the land.

Principal Secretary, housing and urban planning, Sadakant said, “LMRC is responsible to pay the compensation and other facilities to the people while acquiring the land.”

Meanwhile, LMRC has already started making peer-caps (to be mounted on pillars) in yard. From Monday, ‘U-girders’ will be casted in metro’s yard near Amausi. A ‘U-girder’ is the base structure of track which is later cemented with concrete and wires to be placed on top of pillars. For priority section, LMRC needs to prepare 478 girders of 27 mt length each. Officials said that mounting of U-girders will start from April.

A U-girder can be placed on top of pillars only after a cycle of 7.5 days which is used for laying concrete, running wires and drying. Metro-span will comprise two parallel tracks of 239 girders each for both inbound and outbound trains. “The yard will help in casting the structures beforehand to be easily be placed on top of pillars. This will cause least inconvenience to the public on roads”, said Kumar Keshav, MD, LMRC.

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Mumbai Metro: Civic Bodies oppose chopping of thousands of trees for Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Car Depot

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Narendra Shah

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20/02/2015

0

Mumbai: Two thousand two hundred and ninety eight trees will be uprooted to establish a car depot at Aarey milk colony for the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Rail. People have been opposing the move, but authorities are firm on going ahead with their plans for the car depot.

A car depot is used to keep trains when they are not in operation. Aarey colony was selected for building the car depot because there was open land in the green area, available at low cost.

Of the 2,298 trees to be removed in Aarey colony, 2,044 trees will be transplanted in the adjoining plot; but the other 254 trees will be removed permanently.

Environmentalists and nature enthusiasts have come together under the banner ‘Save Aarey Milk Colony’ opposing any construction activity in the green area.

In fact they have even approached Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) with their plea. The JICA has provided a loan to the state government towards construction of the metro line. The environmentalists have demanded that JICA force the state government to spare Aarey Colony land from being used for the project.

Environmentalist Rishi Aggarwal wrote to JICA in December last year, “I feel great attention has not been paid to the environmental and social impacts from Line 3 Metro in Mumbai.
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Reduction of greenhouse gases because a number of car trips will be reduced cannot be used as an argument alone for the Line 3 Metro. 70 acres of ecologically sensitive area which is giving numerous environmental services like absorbing polluting gases, flood prevention and providing recreational and scenic value to citizens will be lost in this process and this is not an insignificant loss. Alternatives are available for the car shed which would have been chosen had ‘great attention’ been paid to environmental factors,” read a letter by Rishi Aggarwal to JICA.

Although JICA has accepted the letter, it is yet to react to the appeal.

In addition, leopards and other animals have been frequently spotted near the car depot. In fact there has been human-leopard conflict between 200 to 500 metres from the plot chosen for the depot.

But Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation managing director Ashwini Bhide informed, “It is impossible to relocate the car depot at this juncture of the project. We will soon make a presentation to the tree authority of the civic body, and a site visit will be organised to brief the tree authority members about our plans.”

Though 36,038 square metres have been earmarked for the transplantation of trees that will be uprooted from the 30-acre plot planned for the car depot, the MMRC has begun another study to see if the alternate site will be sufficient to accommodate these trees.

“The survival rate of trees should be high in this case, because the environment will not change drastically; these trees will be transplanted on the neighbouring plot,” said another MMRC official.

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Mumbai Metro: Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Corridor to have lower fares than current one

By

Narendra Shah

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19/02/2015

0

Mumbai: Controversy rages over the fares charged on the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar metro line. The state government wants Reliance Infrastructure to reduce its fares, which it is currently not doing. But such a conflict will not arise at all on the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ metro corridor once it is ready.

The fare will be much lower than that being charged on the first metro line.

The fare structure made public by the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) is as follows: in 2019 the fare for the first three kilometres will be Rs.11, while the fare to travel along the whole route will be Rs.33.

“MMRC will fix the fare first, and thereafter the fare fixation committee will approve the subsequent revisions,” said Ashwini Bhide, Managing Director of MMRC.

The only hiccup is that there is a possibility of a fare revision even before the line is made operational for public. According to the current plans, the entire route should be ready in 2020 with trials and safety certifications. However, the possibility of project delay is not ruled out.
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If the completion schedule overshoots the deadline, this metro line might be finished in either 2021 or 2022, which means a fare revision is likely.

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Kolkata Metro: Lack of co-ordination between various Govt agencies puts metro rail projects in limbo

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Narendra Shah

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19/02/2015

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Kolkata: Even as another railway budget approaches, there seems to be no end to the hurdles faced by the ongoing Metro projects in Kolkata that are directly under the Union railway ministry.

An inspection by Metro Railway has revealed that even after four years, none of the city’s various Metro projects have even reached the midway stage, mainly because of lack of co-ordination between various government agencies. Politics has also played a role. These Metro links were all announced by Mamata Banerjee when she was the railway minister. After she took over as the chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata put her foot down and refused to help the railways in removing encroachment from the Metro routes through which these networks will pass. In many cases, the encroached land belongs to the railways. Civic bodies such as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation have also refused to help by relocating underground utilities.
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“The projects should have been completed by now. Funds aren’t a problem but lack of will is. We can’t even ask for more funds as we aren’t sure whether we will be able to spend them. One of the most important Metro projects is the one between Joka and BBD Bag. This 18.72-km stretch was sanctioned in 2010-11. The foundation stone was laid by the President and it was accorded the status of a national project. In 2012-13, the Joka-Diamond Park stretch was added. The estimated cost of these projects is Rs 2,913.51 crore and the implementing agency is Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL). The main problem for the Joka-BBD Bag link has been non-acquisition of land. RVNL has still not got land for the car shed and is facing hurdles with other government departments over whose property the tracks are to pass.

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Kerala Monorail: Kerala Monorail Corporation board discusses financing of Light Metro

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Narendra Shah

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19/02/2015

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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Monorail Corporation Limited (KMCL) has sought the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) remarks on the State Planning Board’s observations on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode mooted for the Rs.6,728-crore Light Metro for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

The board of directors meet to discuss the financial mode to be chosen for the proposed Light Metro Rail project for ThiruvananthapLuram and Kozhikode saw both Planning Board and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) coming up with different options. The Planning Board suggestion is to go for the PPP model to carry out the project, pointing to the financial constraints of the state government.

Official sources told that Mr. Sreedharan pointed out the failures of the three metro projects taken up in the PPP mode in the country, problems in handing over government land, and issues such as the concessionaire getting a free hand on deciding fares. Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, K.M. Abraham informed the board that the department had not gone into the detailed project report prepared by the DMRC. It was informed that the Cabinet would take a call on the Light Metro after getting a report from the Finance Department and remarks from the DMRC. The board did not take up the consultancy agreement for the Light Metro though it was listed on the agenda. A three-member committee of IAS officials set up to finalise the agreement with the DMRC was yet to submit its report .

DMRC is for the option where both the state and central governments put in a 20 per cent investment each in the project and the rest 60 per cent to be borrowed as loan. “With the DMRC option, a 20-year repayment period would be effective which has to be met from the profit of running light metro rail. One reason DMRC put forward the suggestion was that the PPP model will be more time-consuming to realise the project. While taking the loan, interest rate might be bit higher as well,” said Sheikh Pareeth, managing director of Kerala Monorail Corporation Limited.

The board also decided to give Rs.9 crore as consultancy fee due to the DMRC for the DPR of the scrapped monorail. The DMRC decided not to press for the Rs.27 crore due to it as fees as the monorail was scrapped due to prohibitive cost.

It was also decided to give Rs.35 lakh to the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre as fees for the initial feasibility study carried for the monorail project in the two cities.

Speaking at the Cabinet briefing, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said both the Planning Board and DMRC principal adviser E Sreedharan have presented their proposals regarding the project. “Now the Finance Department will go through the suggestions. The final call will be taken by the Cabinet,” he said.

Vice-chairman, KMCL, and Public Works Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju; Ministers V.S. Sivakumar, M.K. Muneer, and Manjalamkuzhi Ali; Chief Executive Officer of the Kerala Road Fund Board P.C. Harikesh; and all board members attended the meeting.

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Nagpur Metro: Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd has finally got registered with the RoC

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Narendra Shah

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19/02/2015

0

Nagpur: The Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRCL) has finally got registered with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Mumbai. The registration was held up for a week due to software problems in ministry of corporate affairs website.

The board of company will meet in the first week of March after which it will appoint a consultant to design the Airport-Mihan stretch of metro railway. It will also prepare a global tender for appointing the second consultant who will design the rest of the project and advise NMRCL in raising money from the market.

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Delhi Metro: Delhi Govt. may not favour hike in DMRC train fares

By

Narendra Shah

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19/02/2015

0

New Delhi: With AAP coming to power in Delhi, speculation is rife that the new government may not be in favour of a hike in Metro fares. DMRC has been asking for an upward revision in fares citing increasing costs. The Metro fares have not been revised since 2009.

Earlier this month, the urban development ministry sent a proposal to the appointments committee of the cabinet to set up a fare fixation panel, which will submit its report within three months of getting approved. The panel consists of three members, including the urban development secretary from the Centre, the finance secretary from the Delhi government and a retired judge.

Said a senior government official, “Fare fixation has been pending for a long time now. However, since elections were due in Delhi, no movement had happened on the issue. With the new government in place, a decision should be taken soon.”

Insiders, however, are apprehensive that the AAP government may not be keen on revising Metro fares immediately. “Amid the talk of subsidies, speculation is rife that the government may not be in favour of an increase in Delhi Metro fares, which is seen as the commute of the common man,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

The fare fixation panel decides on the formula for fare revision.
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The last revision of fares took place five years ago. Delhi Metro can revise its fares only on the recommendation of a three-member committee constituted by the Centre from time to time. Added the source, “Once the government approves, the committee will be notified with their terms of reference for fare fixation.”

According to officials at the Centre, Justice (retired) A K Srivastava has been chosen as the chairman of the committee. “Fare hike is long overdue. Now when the committee will be formed and when it will give its recommendations is not in my hand,” DMRC CMD Mangu Singh had said earlier.

According to Delhi Metro officials, almost 40 percent of Delhi Metro’s overall expenses go towards paying electricity bills with the power consumption rising to around 63 crore units amounting to almost Rs 450 crore in 2014-15.

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Hyderabad Metro: Court cases stall Metro Rail work in Hyderabad

By

Narendra Shah

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19/02/2015

0

Hyderabad: In spite of the new Land Acquisition Act that came into force on January 1, 2014, which stipulates 100 per cent solacium to be paid in addition to the land value and without any income tax deduction, 40 cases have been referred to the court by the land acquisition cell.

In most cases dispute arises on the share in compensation among family members and between owners and tenants. All cases that are referred to courts pertain to a title deed. Two parties claim ownership of the land and in the case of tenants claiming a major share of the pie in compensation, the case always takes time as they have to prove the Tenancy Act.

K Shankara Chary, Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition), said, “Two groups are claiming right of the property at St Thomas’ (SPG) Tamil Cathedral in Secunderabad. The case is referred to the court.” Hyderabad Metro Rail has already acquired 2007 square yards. A senior official of the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) said that the longer the court cases take, the greater the delay. In the case of SPG Church, however, HMR is going ahead with the work.

“Two associations are claiming the right to property and it is only to share the compensation package,” said Solomon, a resident of Rezimental Bazaar. In a similar case, 14 persons filed petitions claiming their share in the Rs 5.49 crore allotted as compensation for 915 square yards of land that was acquired at Maqbara Nawab Fakhr-ul-mulk at SR Nagar.

“Several mulgies were built next to the maqbara so that the rent could be used to maintain the over 100-year-old structure. But the tenants now have gone to court and want a major share in the compensation,” said Mir Sarfaraz Hussain, who claims to be the great grandson of Nawab Fakhr-ul-mulk.

“In corridor I, out of the 80 properties acquired, 29 have been referred to the city civil court. But not all acquired properties are referred,” said Shankara Chary. To substantiate his case he said, “In corridor III, the 39 properties that were acquired were not referred to the court.” A senior official at the land acquisition cell said, “Many a time we counsel the parties to come to an understanding or the case would be referred to the court and it may take a long time.”

Only a few agree. Even in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) in Secunderabad, the management agreed to land acquisition only when HMR officials convinced the representatives of Iskcon that the assets of the temple would not be affected. Initially, HMR wanted 1,333 square yards but later agreed to 612.77 square yards.

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Chennai Metro: Tamil Nadu seeks Centre’s nod to extend Chennai Metro line till Thiruvottiyur

By

Narendra Shah

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18/02/2015

0

Chennai: Amid the growing demand for extending the metro rail network to north Chennai, the state government on Tuesday sought clearance from the Centre to extend the line from Washermenpet to Thiruvottiyur.

“I am happy to note that substantial progress has been achieved in the implementation of Chennai Metro Rail project and a part of the elevated section from Koyambedu to Alandur is to be commissioned soon,” governor K Rosaiah said in his address to the assembly.

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) had completed trials and requested the state government for a date for inaugurating the 11km Alandur-Koyambedu stretch.

The state has taken up preparation of detailed project reports for phase II corridors and the governor expressed the hope that the Centre would support the state in completing work on the additional corridors expeditiously.

CMRL has completed survey of the line between Washermenpet and Thiruvottiyur and is ready to float tenders after the Centre gives its sanction and finalises the funding pattern.

With the ongoing work expected to be completed in a year, CMRL is going ahead with its plan to expand the network. It has called for a tender to identify a consultant to prepare detailed project report for three new lines — Madhavaram to Light House (17 Km), Koyambedu to Injambakkam (27 Km) and Madhavaram to Perumbakkam (32 km).
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“The city should have had around 200km of metro rail by now based on the population. We are taking up new lines. The aim is to ensure there is a metro rail station within walking distance anywhere in the city. Share of public transport should increase so that roads will get decongested and quality of life will be better,” said a senior CMRL official.

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