The Japanese agency providing funds for East-West Metro has agreed to bear a part of its escalated cost, an approval without which the project might have become uncertain.
Representatives of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (Jica) visited the project's sites at Salt Lake's Duttabad and Howrah Maidan and a proposed station site at Esplanade on Thursday. They were accompanied by officials of the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, the implementing agency for the project, and the construction companies.
The cost of East-West Metro, which will connect Sector V with Howrah Maidan, has been revised from Rs 4,875 crore to Rs 8,996 crore after a seven-year land logjam during which only 42 per cent of the work was completed.
Jica is providing 46 per cent of the original project cost. Officials involved in the project said the project would have faced uncertainty if Jica did not agree to fund a part of the additional cost.
"Jica representatives told us to start the formal procedure to get approval for additional funding. We have to send a detailed project report of the realigned route and few other studies to the agency," said a railway official on Thursday.
He said Jica had earlier objected to realignment of the route and even to the project being divided into two phases, he added.
After visiting the project in February, Jica officials had said it had entered "a big loop" and a decision on a proposed realignment of the route could be taken only after all land issues were addressed.
On Thursday, Jica officials were satisfied that construction had started at places after being stalled for more than four years because of land-related issues, said sources.
Officials, however, said the revised cost estimate could go up further as it did not include compensation claims made by various construction companies.
The Japanese officials were told on Thursday about the need for clearance from the Archaeological Society of India to build tunnels near some heritage buildings.
The revised deadline for the first phase between Sector V and Sealdah is June 2018. Railway officials said the internal deadline for the second phase is 2020-21.
