The Union Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the 29.77-km Noida-Greater Noida Metro rail corridor, which is nearing completion and is expected to spur people to move to these satellite cities and decongest Delhi.
"The cabinet granted approval to the Noida-Greater Noida Metro rail corridor. It had been pending for a long time," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told media on Wednesday.
The corridor will be entirely elevated and will cost Rs 5,503 crore, he said.
The corridor, which is being built as Noida Metro Rail Project, is near completion, and trial runs will start by the end of the year, said a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official.
The DMRC had earlier entered into an agreement with the Noida transporter to assist it in construction and maintenance of its Metro line, on which construction started in 2013.
The project is scheduled to be completed by April 2018 as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR).
About 70 per cent progress of civil work and 40 per cent of the overall financial progress of the project have been achieved, an official statement said on Wednesday.
It said that the existing Noida Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (NMRCL), which is a state-owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), will be converted into a joint SPV of the central and the Uttar Pradesh governments for implementation of the project.
Metro rail connection between Noida and Greater Noida will result into people being assured about their mobility and thus moving to these satellite cities of Delhi, it said.
It said this corridor would help in decongesting Delhi, resulting in the development of more residential and commercial complexes in the region.
The project will be covered under the legal framework of Central Metro Acts, Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, and the Metro Railways (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, as amended from time to time.