Finance
By: Shree1news, 30 MAR 2021
Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has no proposal to carry out a metro rail venture between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar till 2041 as a result of lack of feasibility, mentioned Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena in the Odisha Assembly today.
Replying to a query by Jatani MLA (Congress) Suresh Routray, the Minister mentioned that the State government had not proposed the Centre for the metro rail venture between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack following an unsuitable report on feasibility study.
The Minister further added a Hyderabad-based company- M/s Balaji Railroad Systems Ltd (BARSYL) had been entrusted with the task of survey for the venture. The company had carried out the survey and found no feasibility for the project.
“We had asked the company to re-conduct the study by extending the project limits as much as Khordha-Jatani. In its report, the company had stated ‘a full-scale metro rail project isn’t possible till 2041. In view of the report, we had not proposed the Centre for the project,” Jena informed the House.
Based mostly on population and some other aspects, the company had carried out the survey, the minister mentioned.
The State government had paid only Rs 52 lakh to the private firm for the survey whereas received only 12.61 lakh from the Centre, Jena mentioned.
An MoU had been signed between the State government and the company in 2014.
“We had provided all required data at that time, based on which the company had prepared the report. In view of its report, we can’t propose the metro rail project now. If government of India supports us, we would definitely re-conduct the survey in future by expanding the project up to Chandikhol from Cuttack and Khordha-Jatani-Puri from Bhubaneswar,” Jena mentioned while responding to a related query by Amar Satpathy (BJD).
Source:A-N
