FCC

AAI offers land for new Garia Airport metro project

2018-12-20

The new Garia Airport metro alignment is back on track as the Airports Authority of India has offered land from the eastern periphery of the airport for the construction of the proposed flyover on VIP Road.

The state government had reportedly asked Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL), the executing agency of the metro project, to take the metro underground from City Centre II. As per the previous plan, the metro viaduct 500 m was supposed to be taken along the elevated corridor on the VIP Road and then take it underground for the final stretch in the airport area. However, the state government stated that it was not possible to part with two of the six lanes on the road.

The Railways Board disagreed to change time and cost overrun. The cost of constructing the elevated track is estimated to Rs 1.5 billion for every km and Rs 3-Rs 4 billion for a km of underground corridor. Observing the situation, the state government approached the AAI. The cost of the land on a 1:1 ratio will be shared by the state government and metro rail. As per the new decision, the flyover and two metro will reportedly run parallel to each other.