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Wednesday, June 7, 1972
"In other words, Sir, certain essential pre-construction work is being
undertaken now so that no time will have been lost should the financial
explorations prove successful and a firm decision is taken later on this year
to proceed with construction.
"As I have said, such an eventual decision on whether to go ahead
definitely with the construction of the railway will be taken in the light
of the findings of the Steering Group as to whether firm possibilities exist of
raising the requisite finance on reasonable terms. This decision will be
taken before the end of this year and, if it is favourable, every effort will
be made to start construction early in 1974. If it is not favourable, either
because the finance is not available in sufficient quantities and on appropriate
terms or because the cost turns out to be inordinately high or both, all work
on the project will cease and it will not be proceeded with further.
"Sir, while the Government has taken a firm decision, in principle,
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to proceed with the Mass Transit Railway and has every intention of exploring
all possible sources of finance, we are conscious of the size of the task in
physical as well as financial terms we have set ourselves. The complete
system will take many years to build, though the first stage will be operational
within 3 years from the time construction begins and the second stage 15 months
later. We are confident that it is a feasible project to construct, that being
capital intensive it will not make excessive demands on the labour force in
the construction industry and that it is the best system of all the alternatives
examined. But at mid-1970 prices it is estimated to cost over $6,000 million,
including accumulated interest over the construction period
as I said
/earlier,
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