Unavailability of land delays Metro corridor

Unavailability of land pockets has delayed the completion of construction work on the longest upcoming Metro corridor that will connect Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar. Barring the two-km stretch yet to be completed due to non-availability of land pockets at Trilokpuri, Naraina and Punjabi Bagh, the construction work on the 58.5-km corridor is almost complete.

Expressing satisfaction over the pace of work, DMRC chief Mangu Singh said that physical construction work, including viaduct and tunnels, had almost been completed on other upcoming corridors as well and the trial runs will start from July.

He said that the trial run on the Majlis Park-Lajpat Nagar stretch will start by October and on the IP Extension-Shiv Vihar section of the Delhi Metro’s longest upcoming corridor will also start by October. “The trials on the Lajpat Nagar to IP Extension stretch would start tentatively by December 2016,” Mr Singh said.

Elaborating on the status of the second longest upcoming corridor between Botanical Gardens and Janakpuri West, Mr Singh said that the physical construction work on the corridor is almost complete. “Only about a two-km stretch on the 36-km corridor is yet to be completed. The trial run on the Botanical Garden to Kalkaji stretch on the corridor will start from July, while Janakpuri West to IGI and IGI to Kalkaji will start in September,” he said.

Mr Singh added that the upcoming Heritage Corridor from Central Secretariat to Kashmere Gate, which had faced hurdles initially due to permissions not being granted for construction, is also nearly complete. The trials on this corridor , connecting many places of historical importance including Jama Masjid, will start from July.

The Delhi Metro chief said that some sections of the upcoming corridors will be thrown open for the public this year itself. Pointing out that the construction work for the Phase II of the Delhi Metro’s expansion was relatively easier as the DMRC had started preparatory work much before the corridors were commissioned. “The biggest challenge during Phase III is that the construction had to be done in more congested areas as the corridors are more towards the central parts of the city. The total cost incurred for the Phase III construction is around Rs 36,000 crore,” he said.