Rs 50,000 crore rides on Metro

Metro rail could soon become an industry of over Rs 50,000 crore if all projects, for which the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has submitted detailed project reports to various states, are implemented.

The amount is as much as the government had earmarked for its high-profile Golden Quadrilateral highway project when it was launched in 1998.

All told, DMRC has ten Metro projects in the pipeline. Apart from Delhi, work on Mumbai and Bangalore metros has got under way. The other projects the DMRC is eyeing include those for Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Chennai, Kolkata, and the extensions from Delhi to Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad.

DMRC officials said given the number of projects for which the organisation had turned consultant, it might in the long-run even open a separate consultancy division. After Delhi, Mumbai has the largest Metro project, involving a cost of around Rs 12,583 crore for its three phases. The Bangalore project is the third most expensive one at an estimated cost of Rs 5,747 crore.

The Chennai project got a fresh lease of life after the DMK returned to power in Tamil Nadu, and decided to have a second look at the project, which was junked by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J Jayalalithaa during her term.

In fact, if all these projects get the green signal at the same time, India might also face a shortage of coach suppliers, sources close to the development told Business Standard. As of now, the Bangalore-based Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, that supplied a substantial chunk of the 60 trains that run on the Delhi network, is the only experienced Metro coach manufacturer in India.