The Chennai Metro Phase II project is being implemented as a State Sector Project and the expenditure towards its implementation is currently borne by the Government of Tamil Nadu, said Union Minister of State of Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu. He was responding to a question from DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran on the current status of the approval and disbursement of funds for Phase II of the Chennai Metro Rail project.

Tamil Nadu government has proposed a 118.9 km route length Chennai Metro Phase-2 project at the estimated cost of ₹63,246 crore. The approval of such highly cost-intensive projects depends upon the feasibility of the project and the availability of resources, he said.

The Minister released the details of the metro rail projects approved and the amount of funds disbursed for metro projects during the last five years, city, State, and year-wise. The data shows that for the last two financial years, there was no fund allocation for the Chennai Metro Rail project.

The Tamil Nadu government has been urging the Centre to fund Chennai Metro Phase II project. in February, Chief Minister MK Stalin urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite the approval of the Phase-II of the Chennai Metro Rail project under the 50:50 joint venture model, as was successfully done for Phase-I.

The Phase–I of CMRL Project was implemented as a 50:50 joint venture between the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government. Based on its success, the State government approved Phase–II under the same model. This was recommended to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) for approval during January, 2019.

With the recommendation of MoHUA and NITI Aayog, the funding approvals from JICA, ADB, AIIB and NDB have also been tied up. The Union Home Minister Amit Shah, laid the foundation stone for Phase-II of the CMRL project on November 21, 2020.

“Our government was eagerly awaiting the approval from the Union Government after the announcement for counterpart funding for the project was made in the Union Budget for 2021-2022 and upon the project being recommended by the Public Investment Board on August 17, 2021 as a Central Sector Project under equity sharing model. Unfortunately, there has not been any progress since then, in spite of this issue being pressed by me during my various meetings with you. I learnt that the above proposal is awaiting the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for more than two years now,” the letter written by Chief Minister Stalin to Prime Minister Modi in February said.

In anticipation of the Union Government’s approval, the State government commenced the works for Phase-II to ensure that the project is completed as per the timelines. We have been meeting the expenditure from state funds, due to the Union’s share being held up in the absence of CCEA approval. This has slowed down the pace of work and has also placed a severe stress on state finances. This issue needs to be addressed immediately, so that this dream project of the people of Chennai can be implemented within the targeted time, the letter said.

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