According to the budget estimate provided by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in January 2020, GDA needs Rs 1,517 crore for the Noida Sector-62 to Sahibabad route, and Rs 1,808.22 crore for the Vaishali to Mohan Nagar route.
The Uttar Pradesh government will hold a meeting on 2 May to discuss funding issues for two proposed Metro extensions in Ghaziabad — namely Mohan Nagar to Vaishali, and Noida Sector-62 to Sahibabad.
According to officials, the government denied Ghaziabad development Authority (GDA) state funding earlier in January, as per Hindustan Times report.
“The meeting has been called by the additional chief secretary (housing and urban planning), after the deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya, directed us to resend the detailed project reports to Lucknow. We requested state funding for the project, but it was initially denied,” said GDA chief engineer Rakesh Kumar Gupta.
The proposed lines from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar and Noida Sector-62 to Sahibabad will link Ghaziabad’s Red Line to the Delhi Metro’s Blue Line.
Earlier, according to the budget estimate provided by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in January 2020, GDA needs Rs 1,517 crore for the Noida Sector-62 to Sahibabad route, and Rs 1,808.22 crore for the Vaishali to Mohan Nagar route.
(Source: metrorailnews.in)
Officials say GDA is experiencing a funding crisis due to two loans of around Rs 1,500 crore obtained to finance the Hindon elevated road and to pay farmers more for the Madhuban Bapudham project, as per the HT report.
Following the lack of funds, the GDA had also been contemplating different ways to connect two Metro extensions for the past year and a half.
The officials came up with ropeway link connection as one of the proposed options. Besides, they also considered Metrolite — a light rail urban transit system aimed at cities with less ridership, that can act as a feeder system for existing Metro systems, and Metro Neo — a low-cost mass rapid transit system for tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
However, residents who preferred Metro connectivity over other modes of transportation opposed these alternatives, following which, GDA admitted in December 2022 that Metro connectivity on the two routes would be the best option.
An official familiar with the development stated that things are now moving in a positive direction.
“We hope that the two projects will receive government funding or contributions from various departments, similar to what happened with the Red Line extension (Dilshad Garden to New Bus Adda),” the official added.