Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has no proposal to carry out a metro rail project between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar till 2041 due to lack of feasibility, said Urban Development Minister Pratap Jena in the Odisha Assembly today.
Replying to a query by Jatani MLA (Congress) Suresh Routray, the Minister said that the State government had not proposed the Centre for the metro rail project between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack following an unsuitable report on feasibility study.
The Minister further added a Hyderabad-based company- M/s Balaji Railroad Systems Ltd (BARSYL) had been entrusted with the task of survey for the project. The company had carried out the survey and found no feasibility for the project.
“We had asked the company to re-conduct the study by extending the project limits up to Khordha-Jatani. In its report, the company had stated 'a full-scale metro rail project is not feasible till 2041. In view of the report, we had not proposed the Centre for the project," Jena informed the House.
Based on population and some other aspects, the company had conducted the survey, the minister said.
The State government had paid only Rs 52 lakh to the private firm for the survey while received only 12.61 lakh from the Centre, Jena said.
An MoU had been signed between the State government and the company in 2014.
“We had provided all required data at that time, based on which the company had prepared the report. In view of its report, we can't propose the metro rail project now. If government of India supports us, we would definitely re-conduct the survey in future by expanding the project up to Chandikhol from Cuttack and Khordha-Jatani-Puri from Bhubaneswar," Jena said while responding to a related query by Amar Satpathy (BJD).
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