Patna Metro project gets clearance from Public Investment Board

New Delhi (Urban Transport News): The Public Investment Board (PIB) gave its approval to Patna Metro Rail project on Wednesday. This information is shared by state urban development and housing department (UDHD) principal secretary Chaitanya Prasad, who made a presentation on the detailed project report (DPR) in New Delhi. Now it will go to the central government cabinet for final approval. On Tuesday, Urban Development Minister Suresh Kumar Sharma had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was likely to lay the foundation stone of the project on February 17 or March 3.

The Prime Minister is to address a rally of NDA in Patna that day. It is mandatory to get approval from the PIB for any project which costs exceeds Rs.10,000 crores. It is a pre-requisite before sending it to the central cabinet. "The Public Investment Board (PIB) checks the technical feasibility of the project and whether it will be able to meet the expenditure. The cabinet approval is a political decision and generally all those projects cleared by the PIB get its nod.

Since both the state and the Centre have NDA government, Patna metro rail project is likely to get cabinet’s approval soon,” said a senior bureaucrat. To execute the Patna metro project, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in name of Patna Metro Rail Corporation (PMRC) has already been formed. According to UDHD special secretary Sanjay Dayal, it would take around five years to complete the project. After the Union cabinet’s approval, PMRC will start the bidding process to hire agencies to carry out different works.

The estimated expenditure of the Patna metro project is Rs13,400 crores. As per the detailed project report (DPR), the 14.5 km long east-west corridor of the Patna Metro rail project will cover Saguna Mor, Bailey Road, Patna Junction, and Mithapur bus stand. The 16.5 km long north-south corridor, on the other hand, will connect Patna Junction with the proposed bus stand at Bairiya via Ashok Rajpath, Gandhi Maidan, and Rajendra Nagar terminal. The east-west corridor will mostly be underground, while the north-south corridor will be elevated one.