New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) The Planning Commission has convened an inter-departmental meeting here Friday to discuss a delayed Metro rail project in Kerala, a senior government official said.The project, slated to come up in Kochi, has seen no effective progress since 2006, when the work was to start.

“The meeting will discuss, among other things, the funding part of the project,” urban development secretary M. Ramachandran told IANS.

“We hope the meeting will help the project to take off. There is no point in delaying the project any longer,” added Ramachandran.

Friday’s meeting is scheduled to be attended by top officials from the ministry of urban development and finance, apart from the plan panel, which has to sanction the outlay.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the consultant and implementing agency for the Kochi Metro, submitted the project report way back in July 2005.

If approved, Kochi, the commercial hub of Kerala, will become the second southern city after Bangalore where Metro services will begin in a few years. The Bangalore project is scheduled to be completed by 2011.

Had the work started as per schedule in 2006, Metro trains would have started chugging in Kochi by 2009.

Delhi and Kolkata are the only cities in India where Metro rail services are already operational.

The estimated cost of the 25-km long Kochi Metro project is around at Rs.3,000 crore (Rs.30 billion), with the state and the centre each putting up 15 percent of the outlay.

Ramachandran said the remaining will be funded through loans from financial institutions.

The state government is keen to get the project funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), which has funded Delhi’s Metro project as well.

A section of traders and businessmen have objected to the Kochi Metro’s scheduled route along the city’s arterial Mahatma Gandhi Road.

But Ramachandran said it was too late to draw up a fresh route.

“The alignment change is not feasible. It will further delay the project and cost will also shoot up,” he added.