The foundation stone for the Rs.4,874.58 crore East-West Kolkata Metro corridor project was laid by West Bengal Chief Minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on 23 February 2009.

Of the total investment, Rs.1,169 crore will come from the Central Government through equity and subordinated debt, while the West Bengal Government will invest Rs.1,452.58 crore. The remaining Rs. 2,253 crore will be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as a senior-term debt loan.

The 14.67 km corridor will be from Salt Lake Sector V up to Howrah Maidan. Of this, around 8 km will be underground with six stations and the balance 6.67 km will be on an elevated track. The underground corridor will start from Howrah railway station and will cross the river Hooghly at a depth of 60 feet from the water level. The proposal to extend the metro alignment up to Howrah Maidan from Howrah station covering an additional 900 mtrs at an added cost of Rs.198.58 crore has been sanctioned by the Central Government.

The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) a JV company with equal equity participtation from the Centre and the state government will execute the project. KMRC has already awarded the tender for the elevated corridor at Salt Lake to Gammon India. The Salt Lake-Sealdah stretch is scheduled to be ready by 2012 while the entire project will be completed by October 2014.

Also See:

Maharashtra Government may take up the Phase II of metro (19-Feb-09)