No life in this metro: Showpiece project for Srinagar & Jammu still awaits GoI approval

No life in this metro: Showpiece project for Srinagar & Jammu still awaits GoI approval

SRINAGAR: The much-hyped metro project in the twin cities of Jammu and Srinagar is still awaiting approval for funds from the Government of India, which is funding the project.
“Approval/appraisal of the DPR along with funding for these projects is awaited from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India,” reads the document prepared by the planning department for an official presentation on the project. The document is available on the planning department’s website as well.
Set to be finished in 2024 by an outside firm, RITES, the light metro transit system would run 17 hours a day in Jammu city, whereas in Srinagar it will run 17 hours daily during summers and 14 hours daily in winters. Due to technical problems, the tracks cannot be laid underground and so the metro will run on elevated corridors. In Jammu it will have a 23-kilometre length with 22 stations between Bantalab and Bari Brahmana, whereas in Srinagar it will have a 25-kilometre length which includes 12.5-kilometre length from Indira Nagar to HMT Junction and 12.5-kilometer length from Hazuri Bagh to Osmanabad, with 24 stations (12 stations on each corridor).
The initial cost estimate is over Rs 10,000 crore for the twin metros, a cost that will definitely escalate as the project fails to meet its deadline.
There are more than 708 “languishing” projects of the power department for many years. The J&K Government-owned Power Development Corporation has been found to be bleeding losses as a result of failure of completion of several projects in Jammu and Kashmir. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) reported that the J&K State Power Development Corporation (J&KSPDC) suffered a loss of Rs 1.92 crore as a result of failure to execute work under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY). The corporation also failed to get Rs 4.67 crore from the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) since 2014-15 because of lack of execution of work.
The Jahangir Chowk and Natipora railway project, too, have had the same fate. The project costs escalated to five times more than the estimate, and took four years extra for completion.

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