RITES submits report on Guwahati Metro Rail project

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Guwahati Metro Rail Project has made a stride forward. RITES (Rail India Technical & Economic Service Ltd) has submitted its final CMP&AA (Comprehensive Mobility Plan & Alternative Analysis) report on the metro rail project for Guwahati to the GMDA (Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority).

Now the GMDA will send this report to the GDD (Guwahati Development Department). The DPR (Detailed Project Report) of this project will be prepared based on this report.

When asked, a top official of the GMDA said, "We didn't have the CMP&AA report earlier. After receiving this report, a clear-cut traffic and communication system has come to our mind. Based on this report, we can take decisions on metro rail lines. It's the government to decide the routes for metro rail in the city."

Earlier, the Congress government in the State had started the project – Guwahati MRTS (Mass Rapid Transport System). RITES prepared the feasibility report and the DPR for a rail-based MRTS for Guwahati in 2016. In February 2016, the State government issued the gazette notification for implementation of the rail-based MRTS for the metropolitan city. The then Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi laid the foundation stone for the metro rail project at Khanapara in 2016. However, after the change of guards in May 2016, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's Cabinet reviewed the project in 2017 and suggested a recast in the DPR (Phase-1) for additional metro corridors from Dharapur-Guwahati Airport and North Guwahati- AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), besides joining all the major points.

In 2017, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Development introduced a new metro rail policy, bringing a change in the Guwahati Metro Rail Project. That led the GMDA to ask RITES to study and file a comprehensive report and the type of metro rail needed for Guwahati.

RITES submitted the draft of this report to the GMDA in October this year. And that helped the departments like the PWD, Railways, NHAI (National Highway Authority of India), Water Resources, GDD among others to extend their suggestions. The comprehensive final report submitted by RITES on December 10, 2020 is prepared by taking all suggestions into consideration.

In 2016, a stretch of 61.4 km of the 200-km metro rail project was taken in phase-1 in 2016. The stretch had four corridors – Dharapur-Jalukbari-Narengi (22.6 km), Jalukbari-Khanapara (19.4 km), GS Road (10 km underground) and ISBT-Paltan Bazar (9.4 km). The cost per km of the corridors was estimated to be Rs 350 crore, which is likely to escalate now.

According to the policy adopted by the Union Ministry and suggestions from RITES, the metro rail project for Guwahati will be 'metrolite rail' with lesser capacity and much less cost.

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