[sustran] [HasiruUsiru] Metro Rail planned in major Indian cities

[Vinay Baindur]

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Metro+Rail+planned+in+major+Indian+cities&artid=85UgLKeijC4=&SectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&MainSectionID=Qz/kHVp9tEs=&SectionName=UOaHCPTTmuP3XGzZRCAUTQ==&SEO=JNNURM


Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Saturday said that the
Centre has an ambitious plan to build Metro Rail in all the major cities in
India, which have a population of two million people.After flagging off 380
BMTC city buses, Reddy said that for the Bangalore Metro Rail, likely to
cost Rs 12,000 crore for the first phase, the Centre is providing 50 pc of
financial aid with Rs 6,000 crore under JNNURM through equities, subordinate
loans and with a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency
(JICA). He said the JICA loan is being provided at 1.5 pc interest rate per
annum and the re-payment term is for 20 years.Reddy said the financial
assistance to procure new buses by the State Transport Undertakings under
JNNURM was not originally conceived. “Later it was added under a special
package and grants of Rs 4,723.94 crore to procure new 15,620 buses in 61
cities of India was approved and sanctioned,” he said.

He said that the JNNURM had earlier emphasised only on Urban Infrastructure
Governance (UIG) and Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP). Hence, 80 pc of
the JNNURM funds was provided to UIG and 20 pc to BSUP, he added.The
minister said that in Bangalore, 40 UIG projects costing Rs 2,798.21 crore,
14 BSUP projects at Rs 510.85 crore and 19,984 dwelling units were
sanctioned. “In Bangalore, a total of 54 projects and 1,000 buses were
sanctioned costing Rs 3,550.49 crore,” he said.He said that eight UIG
projects at Rs 1,044.92 crore, four BSUP projects at Rs 236.33 crore, 8,134
dwelling units and 150 buses at Rs 49.43 crore in Mysore under JNNURM, all
totaling Rs 1,331.68 crore, have also been sanctioned.He added the total
approved cost under all four components of JNNURM for Karnataka is Rs
5,652.45 crore, including 137 projects.He urged the government to try and
build liveable cities by also maintaining the quality of the environment.

The activists of Hasiru Usiru handed a petition to Jaipal Reddy, on the
controversial construction of an underpass at Tagore Circle on KR Road taken
up by the BBMP with JNNURM funds.The group has opposed the works on the
underpass.
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