NEW DELHI: The board of directors of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Monday re-approved metro’s Phase IV project . The project will now have to be approved by the Delhi cabinet The Delhi government had recently asked DMRC to take the project back to its board to seek its re-approval before it is placed before the cabinet for its nod. The DMRC board is headed by the secretary, ministry of housing and urban affairs and comprises officials from central and Delhi government, apart from senior DMRC officials.Officials said the board’s re-validation for the project was mandatory as the estimated cost of construction of Phase IV has changed twice – from Rs 55,208 crore (estimated in the first detailed project report submitted to the Centre and Delhi in 2016) to Rs 45,603 crore recently. It has now been revised again to around Rs 46,800 crore.The cost in 2014 was estimated on the earlier tax regime. It was reduced by Rs 10,000 by taking taxes as per GST into account. “It has marginally gone up as the Delhi Metro had earlier failed to factor in the cost of the procurement of metro coaches and laying down tracks on certain stretches,” a Delhi government official said, requesting anonymity.According to sources in the government, apart from the change in overall cost of the project, there has also been changes in the loan component of the project, which has necessitated the re-approval from the DMRC board. Sources said that the proportion of loan to be provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has come down to 43%, while it was 60% during Phase I and 54% and 51% in Phase II and Phase III, respectively.The 104-km-long Phase IV project, which has six proposed corridors, was approved in-principle by the Delhi government in January 2017 but a final approval and financial commitment is awaited.

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