The Indian Government, through the Union Urban Development Ministry, has accorded 'in-principle approval' to the Tamil Nadu Government for the development of the Chennai monorail PPP project.

A request for qualification (RFQ) was issued by the Government of Tamil Nadu through the Metropolitan Transport Corporation of Chennai in early February this year.

The estimated length of the line is 21 km. The new monorail project will link Poonamalle and Kathipara with a link from Porur to Vadapalani in Chennai. The project aims to provide multi-modal integration, including sub-urban railways to provide network connectivity in the region.

The project will be taken up through PPP on a design, build, finance operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. According to sources the contract period would be 30 years. The contract also includes the provision of rolling stock material for the project.

The total project investment is estimated ar Rs32,267 million (US$520 million).

 According to the state administration the advantages of the project are: land acquisition is minimal, monorail is safe, consumes less space, easy to construct, cause minimal disruption during construction, aesthetically pleasing, no grid power required for operation, environment friendly and cost-efficient.

According to sources two or three consortia have shown interest in the rail PPP project. Bombardier which previously expressed interest, and a Chinese firm that runs the Monorail system in the mountainous city of Chongqing, would be among the interested companies, according to local newspapers.

We have recently reported about two other metro PPP projects in India:

• Mumbai Metro Line II project. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has announced plans to re-tender the project.
• Patna metro PPP project. Plans to develop the metro through a PPP project have been announced.