PM Modi to lay foundation stone of Surat Metro Rai Project in next week

Surat, India (Urban Transport News): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 18 will virtually lay the foundation stone of Rs 12,020 crore Phase-1 of the Surat Metro Rail project. The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of Phase-2 of the Ahmedabad Metro Rail project which will connect GIFT City campus and the Gandhinagar. 

Both the metro projects in Surat and Ahmedabad are being implemented by the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) which is a special purpose vehicle and a joint venture between Gujarat and the central government.

The first civil contract package (CS-01) of the Surat Metro Rail project has been awarded to Sadbhav Engg Ltd - SP Singla Constructions Pvt Ltd JV for the construction of an 11.6 km elevated section (Kadarsha Ni Nal - Dream City) with 10 metro stations.

Surat Metro project having a total Phase-1 length of 40.35 kilometers, will have two corridors. The first corridor will connect Sarthana to Dream city and will have a 6.47-km long underground section. The second corridor from Behsan to Saroli will be a fully elevated one.

Construction tenders worth Rs 1,500 crore for Phase-2 of Ahmedabad Metro has already been awarded in November and December. Similarly, GMRC is in the process of finalising tenders for the remaining portion of Phase-1. Only 63 percent of the work on Phase-1 of Ahmedabad Metro has been completed so far.

Presently, the metro on a total of 6.5 km is operational in Ahmedabad. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated this section of the 40-kilometer-long Phase-1 of the Ahmedabad Metro just before the Lok Sabha elections in March 2019 but GMRC has been unable to extend the metro connectivity in Ahmedabad in the last two years.

The foundation stone for Phase-1 of Ahmedabad Metro was laid back in March 2015 by the then chief minister Smt. Anandiben Patel. The delay in executing the project has led to the cost of the first phase to escalate to Rs 12,700 crore from the earlier Rs 10,773 crore.

In February 2019, the central government had cleared the Rs 5,523 crore Phase-2 of the Ahmedabad Metro Rail project that will link Motera in Ahmedabad with Mahatma Mandir and will also branch out and connect GIFT City.

For more updates, please explore the "Ahmedabad Metro" and "Surat Metro" pages of Urban Transport News.