New Delhi: Delhi Metro’s Phase IV, which has become a bone of contention between the city government and the Centre, was allocated Rs 500 crore in the budget presented on Tuesday. Presenting the Delhi government’s budget for the fiscal year 2019-20 in the Assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, proposed fund for the long-awaited Metro project.
The 104-km-long Metro Phase-IV project was estimated to be completed by 2021 after Delhi government’s in-principle approval to it in February 2016. It has yet to start despite approval of the Delhi cabinet. “Our government has approved the proposal of Phase-IV of Delhi Metro project comprising six corridors with the length of 103.93 km. With the completion of the phase-IV project, total length of the Delhi Metro will become 453.93 km. I propose Rs 500 crore in the budget 2019-20 for Metro Phase-IV project,” Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s Finance Minister, said in his budget speech.
Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri in January accused the AAP government of having a behavioural pattern of “creating hurdles” in response two conditions imposed by Delhi government while clearing the project. The Housing and Urban Affairs ministry is looking into the conditions imposed by the Delhi government.
The Delhi cabinet while clearing Metro Phase IV in December, 2018, had imposed conditions that the operational losses of the project should be shared on 50-50 basis by it and the Centre. It had also put the condition that it will not have any liability on loan provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to fund the project.