Patna, Sept. 6: The urban development and housing department has decided to narrow down the proposed Metro rail corridors in the city to two for reducing the project cost.

According to the draft report, developing four Metro corridors in Patna would require Rs 17,000 crore. To bring it down, the government has decided to have only two corridors and bring down the project cost by Rs 5,000 crore.

Urban development and housing minister Samrat Choudhary told The Telegraph today: “Rs 17,000 crore is too big a sum for the government to successfully execute the Metro rail project. So, we have asked RITES to ensure that the estimated project cost does not go beyond Rs 12,000 crore. It would not be possible for the government to provide the entire project cost, so we are looking at various options to get financial support. Funding agencies such as Japan International Cooperation Agency, World Bank and Asian Development Bank among others can be approached.”

RITES, an agency of Indian Railways, has been assigned the job to prepare a feasibility report and detailed project report for the project. Yesterday, presentation on the draft detailed project report was made before Choudhary and other senior officials.

Now, the plan is to develop the east-west corridor, running from Mithapur Bus Stand to Saguna Mor via Bailey Road and Patna Junction, covering 14.5km. The second (north-south) corridor would be a 16.5-km stretch that will run from Patna Junction to the proposed bus stand at Bairiya on Patna-Gaya Road via Ashok Rajpath and Rajendra Nagar.

Originally, the project included a third corridor to connect Mithapur and Didarganj via Transport Nagar and a fourth corridor between Mithapur and AIIMS-Patna.

On the measures being contemplated to reduce the project cost, Choudhary said: “Constructing an underground Metro rail track would cost Rs 400 crore per kilometre and that of an elevated alignment around Rs 200 crore per kilometre. Flyovers or railway overbridges have come up in several areas of Patna. If we construct the Metro tracks over these overbridges, the cost would only rise by 20-30 per cent. RITES has been asked to explore this option too.”

Fast tracks

Metro Stops

Expected number of stations: 25

Interval between stations: 1-1.5km

On paper

September-end or early October deadline to submit final detailed project report