Assam government is likely to approach Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) for a fresh study on the feasibility of a metro rail project in the capital city Guwahati, Assam housing and urban development minister Ashok Singhal said here on Tuesday.

The Guwahati Metro Rail Project remains a distant dream for Guwahatians since 2016. The feasibility report for Guwahati Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) was completed by RITES in March 2015 for a total corridor length of 203 km in three phases and completed DPR (Phase-I) for a total length of 62.95 km in January 2016.

The state cabinet, on February 22, 2016, had approved DPR (Phase-I) for MRTS and state-owned Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) namely Guwahati Metro Rail Corporation Limited to carry forward the implementation of rail-based MRTS for the city.

The DPR was sent to the ministry of urban development (MoUD) in May 2016. The MoUD has advised the state government to resubmit the proposal along with an updated Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP).

The state cabinet, in January 2017, suggested some changes and asked GMDA to recast DPR (Phase-I) for Rail-based MRTS. The government instructed GMDA to prepare DPR for additional metro corridors from Dharapur to Guwahati Airport and Jalukbari to North Guwahati.

RITES submitted the final CMP and AA report in 2018 but the state government was unhappy. The report was revised in September 2022.“In the earlier reports, the metro rail project was not found feasible in Guwahati for several reasons. However, the situation has changed manifold. Now the population has increased, infrastructure has also developed. So we request the RITES for a fresh study on the metro rail project,” Singhal said during an interaction programme with the journalists at NEFDi Convention Centre here.

“We have formed a statutory body the Assam Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) under the housing and urban affairs department. The UMTA will examine the report and decide the fate of the Guwahati Metro Rail Project,” Singhal said.

Narrating a slew of measures for the development of Guwahati, Singhal said the Guwahati Smart City Ltd (GSCL) will complete the Integrated Traffic Management System within March this year.

“100 AC CNG buses have been procured at the cost of Rs 29 crore. This was already inaugurated by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma on January 1. Renovation and upgradation of the existing museum of the Gandhi Mandap, light and sound show project at Gandhi Mandap have been initiated under the Guwahati Smart city projects,” the minister said.

On the water supply project in the city, the minister said, JICA assisted Guwahati Water Supply Project has been partially commissioned by Guwahati Metropolitan Drinking Water & Sewerage Board on December 21, 2022. Kharguli Water Treatment Plant with 60 MLD capacity out of a total of 191 MLD capacity was made operational. Water supply is provisioned in 14 DMAs of South-Central Guwahati with a capacity of 12000 households.

“Application by potential consumers made completely online through the website and dedicated mobile app. A total of 3,239 applications have been received out of which 1518 household connections have already been provided,” he also said.