‘Some Metro routes not feasible’

New Delhi: Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia Monday said he had directed finance secretary S.N. Sahai to study the routes of the proposed Phase 4 project of Delhi Metro as some of those were financially “unviable”. He added that the unviable routes might impact the fare structure on the proposed line.

“I have directed the finance secretary to submit a study report on all the routes of Metro Phase 4 to ascertain which ones are financially viable and which ones are unviable,” Mr Sisodia said. 

Earlier this month, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said the Delhi government would soon clear the Metro project.

Earlier, he had said that his government was committed to the expansion of Metro and would shortly give its nod to the corridors it found viable. He said Phase 4 had six routes and some of these were not financially viable. 

“In public transport, financial viability is not the only criterion, but if it doesn’t get traffic, it puts a question mark on the viability.” Mr Kejriwal had said the government officials had studied the routes and found many shortcomings. 

In January 2016, the AAP dispensation had given its in-principle approval to the Phase 4 project. It is yet to give its official nod to the same. The routes under the Phase 4 project are: Rithala-Narela (21.73 kms), Janakpuri West-RK Ashram (28.92 kms), Mukundpur-Maujpur (12.54 kms), Inderlok-Indraprastha (12.58 kms), Tughlakabad-Aerocity (20.20 kms) and Lajpat Nagar-Saket G-Block (7.96 kms).