Chennai, Feb 11 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Sunday asked the Central government to sanction the second phase of the Chennai Metro Rail Project.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the text of which was released to the media, Palaniswami requested him to direct the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry to sanction the metro project's Phase II under a 50:50 joint venture partnership between the Centre and the state governments as was done for Phase I.

He said that out of the total project cost of Rs 69,180 crore, the land cost and state taxes amounting to Rs 13,723 crore are being met by the state government and the balance cost of Rs 55,457 crore has to be funded by the Centre (20 per cent), Tamil Nadu (20 per cent) and funding agencies(60 per cent).

"Hence the Central funding may be to the order of Rs 11,100 crore spread over six years," he said.

Palaniswami said Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) has already approved a loan of Rs 20,196 crore and agreement for the loan's first tranche has also been signed.

"Moreover, the Department of Economic Affairs has also recommended funding for this project to the tune of Rs 10,351 crore from the ADB (Asian Development Bank), the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), the NDB (New Development Bank) and the World Bank," he said.