Patna Metro’s DPR Sent to Centre for Approval

After approving the Patna Metro project’s Detailed Project Report (DPR) last month, Bihar’s government has now forwarded the DPR to the central government for its approval! The Rs 16,960 crore project’s DPR with 2 lines totaling 30.92 km was prepared by RITES Ltd. with whom the state government signed a MoU in June 2013.

Out of the 2 lines approved by Bihar’s government in the 1st phase of the project, line 1’s construction will first be taken up.

Line 1 (East – West): Danapur Cantonment – Bypass Chowk: 16.9 km with 14 stations

• Elevated: 5.29 km with 4 stations
• Underground: 11.33 km with 9 stations
• At-grade (ground): .28 km with 1 station
• List of stations: Danapur Cantonment, Saguna Mor, RPS Mor, IAS Colony, Rukkanpura, Rajabazaar, JD Women’s College, Raj Bhavan, Secretariat, High Court, Income Tax Roundabout, Patna Junction, CNLU, Mithapur and Bypass Chowk

Line 2 (North – South): Patna Junction – ISBT: 14.02 km with 12 stations

• Elevated: 9.625 km with 9 stations
• Underground: 4.575 km with 3 stations
• List of stations: Patna Junction, Dak Bungalow, Gandhi Maidan, Kargil Chowk, PMCH, Patna University, Pre Chandra Rangashala, Dinkar Golambar, Rajendra Nagar, NMCH, Kumhrar Park, Mahatma Gandhi Setu, Zero Mile and ISBT

Alignment of Patna metro’s 2 proposed lines – view Patna Metro info & route map

Once the centre’s approval comes through, funding for the project will be tied up from the 3 sources with an estimated contribution listed below:

• State Government: 3392 crore
• Central Government: 3392 crore
• Foreign Loan: Rs 10176 crore – likely to come from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and/or Asian Development Bank (ADB) to whom the state cabinet has directed the state’s Urban Development Department to send funding proposals.

Although the state government can take the first few steps of forming a special purpose vehicle just like the LMRCL in Lucknow and staffing it, it appears more and more likely that they will only do so only after the central government’s approval which can take anywhere from 3 to 15 months depending on various factors such as cost and politics. Choosing to go down this route and not learn from the implementation of the Bangalore, Chennai, Lucknow & Noida Metros is only going to unnecessarily setback the project by months and delay its implementation like Pune’s Metro system where the state government is waiting for the Centre’s approval to kickstart the project.

For more updates on Patna’s metro system, check out the Patna section of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG