Centre Likely To Clear 7.5 km GIFT City Metro Track Soon

The 7.5 km GIFT City Metro track was evaluated, among other issues, in the 88th meeting of the Network Planning Group (NPG) of the Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade (DPIIT), held on Saturday under the chairmanship of DPIIT Joint Secretary E Srinivas in New Delhi.

In line with the PM Gati Shakti National Masterplan, emphasis was laid on increasing multimodal connectivity and logistic efficiency.

The meeting discussed the Metro rail and one-way upgradation of GIFT City in Gujarat. The GIFT City Metro corridor, which is 7.585 km long, will be implemented in two phases, and is expected to reduce fuel consumption, vehicle emissions and accidents.

The second phase of the Metro rail network was connected to Gandhinagar by the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC), when PM Narendra Modi inaugurated it last September. This 21-km phase covers GNLU, PDEU, GIFT City, Rayasan, Randesan, Dholakuva Circle, Infocity and Sector 1.

S S Rathore, the MD of GMRC, said that in the coming days, this Metro rail will go all the way up to the New Secretariat, Akshardham, Old Secretariat, Sector 21, Sector 16, Sector 24 and Mahatma Mandir.

The total cost of the second phase is expected to be Rs 5,384 crore, funding for has come from international agencies like AFD and KFW. There are a total of eight stations in this corridor.

The state government's proposal to the Centre, in which the cost of the expansion has been estimated at Rs 2,000 crore, states that around 28,000 employees are currently working in GIFT City.

Since the current Metro station does not cover the entire GIFT City, many commuters have to avail other transport solutions to reach their business complexes.

Although the cost of creating an elevated circular loop facility in the 900-acre GIFT City corridor is estimated to be around Rs 2,000 crore, but the exact cost and number of Metro stations will be finalised after the DPR is approved.

Of the total 54 stations over this two-phase project between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, 39 are already open. Four of these stations are underground, and seven stations in Gandhinagar are yet to be completed. The length of the line is set to be 68 km.