THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first phase of the monorail project for Thiruvananthapuram city will become operational by January 2016. Work on the project will begin next year, PWD Minister V K Ebrahim Kunju told the Assembly on Tuesday. Work on Phase II will begin in 2015 and will be completed by January 2018, he said. Phase I is 22 km long, linking Pallipuram in the north to Thampanoor in the city. Each km in this phase will cost Rs 125 crore. Phase II will cover the distance from Thampanoor to Neyyattinkara in the south. The estimated cost of this phase is Rs 118.7 crore per km, the Minister said. There will be 35 stations in all in the 41.8 km-long project, which will cost a total of Rs 5,099 crore, Ebrahim Kunju said. The Cabinet had approved the feasibility report prepared by National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) on February 29. NATPAC had suggested the Design-Build-Own-Operate model for the multi-crore project.The monorail project in Thiruvananthapuram is one of the two planned in the State, the other being the one linking Kozhikode Medical College to Ramanattukara, a distance of 23 km. Finance Minister K M Mani had earmarked Rs 20 crore for both projects in the 2012-13 fiscal in his budget speech on Monday. A Personal Rapid Transit System also is in the pipeline for the capital city.
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