India’s Metro Man E Sreedharan suggested Gujarat government to rethink its approach to the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro rail project.
Speaking at MS University’s 61st annual convocation in Vadodara, Sreedharan said Gujarat has lost the chance to get funding from Japanese government for the project.
Sreedharan, who was the former managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, said he submitted report for implementation of the metro project in 2005.
Even after submitting it, he remained in touch for the project’s implementation but mid-way the government formed a special purpose vehicle (SPV).
He further remarked that it would prove to be an uphill task for the state government as money is a big challenge. He remarked that if any metro project takes time it turns out to be less profitable. The project cost, which was estimated to be Rs 6,000 crore when Sreedharan gave his report, has now escalated to Rs 15,000 crore. He also described his association with the project as a “very sad experience”.
Sreedharan said his recommendation was that the project be implemented on the ‘Delhi pattern’ which had 40 per cent funding shared by the state and centre and the rest by multi-national agency.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.