New Delhi, Apr 2 (UNI): Terming as 'baseless' Delhi government’s allegation that their share of expenditure for the three corridors approved by the Union government in March, 2019 is more than its earlier proposal, the Centre on Tuesday said the Delhi Metro Phase-IV project cost had escalated by Rs 5,000 crore due to 4 years' delay by the Delhi government in approving the proposal.
"The article on Delhi Metro Phase-IV, published in an English daily on April 2, 2019 on Delhi Government’s allegation that their share of expenditure for the three corridors approved by the Union Government in March, 2019 is more than its earlier proposal is baseless, false and derived on false assumptions. It appears to be another propaganda of the Delhi Government to stall the Delhi Phase-IV project and deprive the people of Delhi from its benefits,'' the Union ministry of housing & urban affairs said in a statement.
"So far, no letter has been received from the Delhi government on this matter. It has come to the notice only from the press reports that Delhi government has asked Delhi Metro to stop the work till the matter is cleared," the statement said.
"The fact of the matter is that as per the proposal of 3 corridors submitted by the DMRC in January, 2018 (the cost of which was proportionate to the cost of the six corridors approved by Delhi cabinet earlier) the total liability of Delhi government was Rs 8,872 crore whereas, as per the cost approved by the Union government in March, 2019, the total liability of the Delhi Government has come down by more than Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 7,844 crore. The Delhi government’s allegation as brought out in the news article appears to be just a propaganda to derail this important project," the statement said..
DMRC had submitted the proposal of Delhi Metro phase-IV to the Delhi government in October, 2014 for their approval and since then the Delhi government have been delaying the approval of the project for some reason or the other.
The ministry said that the Delhi government had been following a similar propaganda to stonewall the Delhi-Meerut RRTS project.
"They had withdrawn their earlier approval of elevated alignment at Sarai Kale Khan which could lead to a cost increase of more than Rs 4,000 crore. This is a clear indication that they are not really worried about the cost but creating road blocks in provisioning of the much needed transport infrastructure in Delhi. It was only at the intervention of the Supreme Court that the Delhi government has agreed for elevated corridor and providing its contribution for the RRTS project in the current year," they said.
They said that the delay of 4 years by the Delhi government in providing approval for Delhi Metro Phase-IV has escalated the cost of the project by about Rs 5,000 crore. Similarly, the delay in approving the Delhi-Meerut RRTS projects by 2 years has led to a cost increase of Rs 3,100 crore.
''This has resulted in further delay in provisioning of these much-needed infrastructure for reducing the pollution and congestion in Delhi. Further delay by the Delhi government by way of putting roadblocks in the implementation of the project will increase the cost further. Any increase in cost of development of metro/RRTS has direct impact on repayment of loan and thereby increase fare," the ministry said..
The funding pattern of the Delhi Phase 4 approved by the Union government in March 2019 is similar to the metro projects of Kanpur, Ahmedabad-Phase2, Patna, Agra, Surat etc and based on the Metro Rail Policy 2017.
''It is only the Delhi government, which has expressed concerns on the funding pattern. As per the Metro Rail Policy 2017, cost of land and rehabilitation & resettlement has to be borne by the respective state governments," the ministry said.
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