Newsroom24x7 Network

Bhopal: In an exclusive interview to newsroom24x7, Rohit Gupta describes the Metro rail project for Bhopal and Indore as the fruit of a plant that he had sown many years ago when he had come to Bhopal for a presentation to the then chief Minister Babulal Gaur. He had underscored that for better economic developmemt of Madhya Pradesh they needed a world class transportion system for the cities of Bhopal and Indore. To be globally compettive, Rohit had asserted, one must provide a world class transportaion system in the major cities so that people can have a high quality of life and the trend continues so that other states also try to invest and provide such facilities. Thereafter the State government started thinking of a metro, Rohit said and went on to inform that there was some communication but nothing came ouf it immediately. After a few years there was a tender for the preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) for Bhopal and Indore. Rohit’s company applied for it and won the tender in a global competition because of the high level of the tehnical proposal and lowest cost.

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Rohit heads Rohit Associates Cities & Rails Pvt.Ltd, the company appointed to prepare the detailed project report for the MRTS including the selection of the system for the city. Based on the multicriteria analysis and recommendations by his company, the Government of Madhya Pradesh had approved the inception report on 30 June 2014. The company also did comprehensive Geotechnical surveys and spearheaded the formation of the company from concept to the its registration for the implementation of the project. The project was scheduled to be completed by 2021 with the first phase in December 2019.

After the DPR was approved by State Cabinet, it was approved by the Central Government in October 2018 and the foundation of its first phase was laid by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath in September 2019.