Revised mobility plan for metro rail likely by Apr 17
2 min readPATNA: The revised comprehensive mobility plan — an important document envisaging guidelines for setting up metro rail and other modes of rapid transit — for Patna is likely to be finalized by April 17.
“The final proposal for Patna metro rail will be submitted to the Centre for clearance in April and work will begin this year itself,” state urban development and housing department (UDHD) minister Suresh Sharma told the state Assembly on March 13.
A stakeholders’ consultation meet to seek feedback on the draft plan was held at NIT-Patna on Friday. NIT-P is to prepare the revised mobility plan and an alternative analysis in accordance with the new metro policy of the Centre. A preliminary detailed project report for proposed metro rail in Patna was approved by the state cabinet on February 9 last year, but it was required to be revised after the Centre’s new policy. Accordingly, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for preparing the plan and alternative analysis was signed between UDHD and NIT-Patna in December last year and the institute started surveys and related works in February.
“Sixty surveyors are involved in the survey of 4,000 households in the city. The Centre’s guidelines also necessitate feedback from stakeholders and the Friday meeting was held in this regard. Patna mayor Sita Sahu and officials from various departments shared their views on the mobility plan and proposals of metro rail corridors in the city,” said Sanjeev Sinha, professor of civil engineering and dean (planning and development) at NIT-P.
He said a preliminary draft comprehensive mobility plan was submitted with the UDHD on Wednesday. “As per the assessment of traffic load on various routes in the city, Bailey Road, Ashok Rajpath, old bypass road, new bypass road, Boring Canal road and Mithapur among few other areas are likely to be proposed for setting up metro rail corridors,” Sinha said.
Senior UDHD officials said actual construction works would not start before the end of this year, even if the Centre approved the project in a few months.
The initial metro rail proposal had talked about two corridors in the first phase covering a total distance of 31km. It proposed the first east-west corridor from Mithapur Bus Stand to Saguna Mor via Bailey Road and Patna Junction, covering a distance of 14.5km. The second one, a north- south corridor, was proposed from Patna Junction to the proposed bus stand at Bairiya on Patna-Gaya Road via Ashok Rajpath, Gandhi Maidan and Rajendra Nagar Terminal, covering a distance of 16.5km.
Courtesy: TNN
