Jabalpur Metro: Madhya Pradesh Govt plans third metro project in Jabalpur

Jabalpur (Urban Transport News): After Bhopal and Indore, Madhya Pradesh Government is planning to run a metro rail system in Jabalpur city. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath does not want to keep the announcement of Jabalpur Metro Rail project limited to papers only. The Chief Minister, who came to the city a day earlier, has instructed Finance Minister Tarun Bhanot to make a provision for the metro rail project in Jabalpur in the upcoming supplementary budget.

Earlier, Kamal Nath had also instructed the top officers to start the feasibility survey of the metro rail project. Finance Minister Bhanot also informed the Chief Minister to start the budget-related work on the basis of technical action plan soon. According to the instructions received from the Chief Minister, after the budget provision is made, the hope of starting the work of Metro Rail in the next year i.e. 2020.

DPR to be made after a survey

According to the officials, it may take six months to conduct survey of the metro rail project in the city. After this, the detailed project report (DPR) will be prepared. However, surveys will also be conducted in relation to technical survey, land acquisition or other works. The construction work can be started only after the completion of survey work. In the survey, the official will also check the feasibility of elevated as well as underground tracks in some places. This is to be decided on the basis of the geographical conditions of the city.

Three ways to fund the metro rail project

A new Metro Rail Policy was enacted in the year 2017 by the Central Government for implementation of the new Metro Rail Projects in the country. The government will tack all possible steps for implementation of the Jabalpur Metro Rail project according to the new Metro policy. First of all, it will be decided by the state government how the fund can be obtained for the metro project. There are three types of funding options suggested in the new Metro rail policy.

The first of these options is the Public-Private Partnership (PPP mode). Second, to prepare a project after taking a grant from the central government. The third option is to design the project through an equity sharing model. To announce a new Metro Rail Project in Jabalpur, the Chief Minister has directed the finance ministry to make provisions in the supplementary budget. Recently, Chief Minister has laid the foundation stone of Indore Metro Rail project.