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The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Thursday gave its approval to the 23-km-long first phase of the Lucknow Metro project, which will be called "North-South Corridor" and connect Lucknow airport to Munshipulia.

The metro will pass through important city areas like Charbagh near the railway station, Vidhan Sabha Marg, Hazratganj, Lucknow University, IT crossing and Polytechnic crossing. Three kilometres of this route from K K College near Charbagh to the district magistrate's residence near K D Singh Babu stadium will be underground.

The financial model of 50:50 fund sharing between the central and state government was also approved. However, at the same time, it was decided to seek loan from either World Bank or Japanese International Cooperation Agency through the Union Ministry of Economic Affairs. The first phase of the project is expected to cost around Rs 7,000 crore.

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"We had promised to bring the project and also brought the issue to the Vidhan Sabha. The first step in the direction has been taken today," Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said after the cabinet meeting.

Sadakant, Principal Secretary of Housing, said, "We had studied various models, including the PPP model adopted by Andhra Pradesh which is not seeing success. Then, developers were also demanding large chunk of land for development to cover the losses, which was not feasible in a city like Lucknow. Thus, the financial model adopted by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was found to be more practical."

The state government will seek approval of the Union government for adopting their two acts for construction and maintenance of the Metro rail — the Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978, as amended in 2009, and the Metro Railway (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002, for implementation of Lucknow Metro.

"We plan to start the work on the ground by November-December this year after planning traffic diversions to be undertaken during the construction period, shifting of sewage and drinking water pipelines, etc. The government has agreed to give Rs 50-100 crore of funds to start the initial work till other sources of finance are finalised," said Sadakant.

For implementation of the project, a special purpose vehicle will also be formed.

Rajiv Aggarwal, Secretary of Housing, who headed the committee that proposed the alignment and financial structure, said the Metro cell of the state government would also have to coordinate with Indian Railways because about 96 m of North Eastern Railway tracks in Mavaiya will fall under the proposed alignment.