Lucknow Metro project to be ready by 2016: CM.

High on adrenaline, post the thumping victory at the recently-concluded by-elections, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav brought the development plank back on centrestage by kick-starting work on the Rs.6,880-crore Lucknow Metro project in Lucknow.

The project is to be implemented on a 50:50 model (DMRC model) with equity sharing by the Centre and the UP government and over 50% of the project (Rs.3,502 crore) is to be funded through senior debt from multilateral/ bilateral agencies. With this, Lucknow entered the hallowed portals of the select few cities in the country which have a world-class mass rapid transit system that is convenient, safe, fast, reliable and cost-effective and which would go a long way in managing the burgeoning traffic on the city roads.

After the ground-breaking ceremony, the chief minister termed the Lucknow Metro as the lifeline of the city and said that the project would not only ease the traffic and bring cheer to its populace but would also give a major infrastructural boost to the city. 'The Samajwadi Party government is aiming to bring world-class infrastructure to the city of Lucknow. 'All efforts would be made to finish the project by 2016,' he said adding that UP was the 'lone' state in the country where the Metro project was underway simultaneously at three places—Noida, Ghaziabad and Lucknow. 'There is no other state where the project is being carried out simultaneously at so many places at one time,' he said, adding the rapid growth of the city and the associated urban sprawl have accentuated the demand-supply mismatch amidst constrained public transport infrastructure.

FE