UP Government Releases Rs 200 Crore For Kanpur, Agra Metros; European Investment Bank Likely To Provide Further Funding

The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has released Rs 200 crore fund to the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) for commencing metro construction work in Agra and Kanpur.

LMRC Managing Director Kumar Keshav informed that the state government has released Rs 100-100 crore each for the Kanpur and Agra Metro Rail project. He added that another Rs 75 crore would be released before March 2020. Besides, the Centre will also contribute the equal amount of fund soon, reports Urban Transport News.

According to the report, another official from LMRC said that construction of pillars for laying the metro track near the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-K) will start from 2 October.

On Monday (31 September), a high level delegation from UP, led by state government’s minister Sidharth Nath Singh and comprising of MD of LMRC among others, met with vice chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar regarding the two projects.

During the meeting, Kumar assured the delegation that the NITI Aayog would expedite the process of funding for metro rail projects for Agra and Kanpur.

“The vice chairman of Niti Aayog assured us that clearance for the projects funding would be done soon and the same would be sent to the department of economic affairs,” Singh said after his meeting with Niti Aayog, reports Hindustan Times.

“The European Union Investment Bank (EIB) is keen to fund the two projects,” Singh added.

Earlier in 2016, an EIB team had visited Kanpur and said that it is ready to offer help for the project.