NOIDA: The Noida Authority, one of the richest civic bodies in the country, plans to draft a budget of Rs 8,000 crore for the financial year 2014-15 with various infrastructure projects, including the setting up of the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC).

According to the chairman of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities, Rama Raman, of the total Rs 10,000 crore sanctioned last financial year, Rs 2,000 crore was for expansion of Metro links. “The amount remains untouched and will stay that way this financial year until the project takes off. The remaining Rs 8,000 crore will be used for infrastructure projects like flyovers, foot-overbridges, parking spaces,” Raman said. He claimed that the work on Noida-Greater Noida Metro link is likely to begin this year. “While the UP cabinet has approved the project, a nod from the Centre is pending,” he added.

The Metro link between Noida and Greater Noida is proposed along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway. Links from City Center to Sector 62, Sector 71 and to Greater Noida (West) are other proposed Metro line expansions.

Development in Noida and Greater Noida is expected to spiral in 2014 with several mega projects like a heliport, new affordable housing units, a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant, a medical university, a government inter-college for girls, a 200-bed district hospital with a trauma centre, underpasses at City Center and the Sector 94 intersection and a multilevel parking lot at Sector 18 in the pipeline.

The Authority also has an extensive plan of developing a green corridor to protect the riverbed from land sharks. It has planned to develop an amusement park, wedding ceremony venues, a golf course, cricket and football stadiums, etc.

Last April, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had announced Rs 3,337-crore worth of mega projects, work on most of which have started on the ground. “We have started work worth Rs 60 crore on the City Center underpass and Rs 250 crore-worth multi-level parking facility in Sector 18. Work on the girls’ college, district hospital and other projects is in full swing. It is safe to say that 2013 was a year of development because several mega projects were announced, and progress was made on the ground. The work now is in full swing,” said Raman.

Last year was also marked with the announcement of plans to set up the NMRC, which will take the Metro link deep into the state. Noida and Greater Noida authorities are in the process of setting up the body, which will work on the lines of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/noida/Infrastructure-projects-to-get-a-boost-with-Noida-Authoritys-Rs-8000-crore-budget/articleshow/29427179.cms