Kochi: The Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) has received an assistance of Rs 450 crore in the Union Budget for the financial year 2016-17 as against the request of Rs 779 crore.
KMRL officials expressed the hope that this amount would be revised when the Union government revises the budget estimates.
In the current fiscal (2015-16), KMRL received an allocation of Rs 643.96 crore, including the additional revised equity allocation of Rs 44.48 crore. With this allocation, the central government has given the entire sanctioned amount of Rs 753.73 crore as equity to KMRL.
The main shortfall has been under the Head of Account, Pass Through Assistance (PTA), where Rs 434 crore was allocated against Rs 638 crore sought. (The Head of Account is the one through which overseas loan assistance would flow into the project) However, in the revised estimate of the Union budget for the financial year 2015-16, an additional amount of Rs 44.88 crore has been provided by way of equity.
