Metro rail sops put projects on right track.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's announcement to provide financial support to metro rail projects in the Budget speech has been welcomed by transport specialists and industry experts. They feel that such rail systems will not only address problems of urban transport but provide large orders to equipment suppliers in the long run.

Manish Agarwal, Leader of Infrastructure practice at PwC India, said that while metro rail systems are much required for urban areas in India, the current Public Private Partnerships (PPP) models are not suitable. These projects are based on 20-40 per cent viability gap funding and real estate development as a project component have high risk, 'We need new customised PPP models for developing metro rail projects,' he said.


HBL