Paving the way for the Union Cabinet approval, Project Investment Board under the Ministry of Finance has approved the remaining three lines of the Delhi Metro phase V: Rithala-Bawana-Narela (22.91 km) one of the longest line; Lajpat Nagar-Saket G-Block (8. 38 km) and Inderlok-Indraprastha (12.37 km). The total cost of these three lines is expected to be around `12,586 crore.
The Rithala-Bawana-Narela would have a Metrolite corridor as this line is not expected to witness heavy passenger traffic, while the other two would have conventional high-capacity corridors.
In the fourth phase of Delhi Metro, three interchange stations will come up as part of the first corridor work- Madhuban Chowk (Red Line), Peeragarhi (Green Line), and Haiderpur Badli Mor (Yellow Line). Additionally, the corridor of Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg will have three more interchange facilities at Azadpur (with Yellow Line), Majlis Park (Pink Line) and R K Ashram Marg (with Blue Line). A total of 15 stations will come on the Aerocity-Tughlakabad corridor.
Top sources said a PIB meeting chaired by the Finance Secretary approved the three metro lines. “The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Delhi Metro, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Department of Expenditure and Niti Aayog,” sources added.
After the PIB approval, the proposals would be put up before the Union Cabinet for further approval. According to sources, approval of all the investment plans with an estimated costing of `100 crore and more fall under the purview of PIB and it is mandatory to get nod of such projects.
The Delhi Government had given its final approval to all the six proposed corridors in December 2018, but the Centre only approved three priority corridors in February 2019.
While work on all three corridors - Janakpuri West-RK Ashram (28.9km), Aerocity-Tughlaqabad (20.2km) and Maujpur-Majlis Park (12.5km) - is going on simultaneously, Maujpur-Majlis Park corridor, an extension of Pink Line is expected to be completed first.
Delhi metro’s phase IV projects are expecting to miss its 2025 completion target due to Covid-19 pandemic, restrictions and lockdown imposed in the national Capital.
In a reply to Lok Sabha, Union Housing and Urban Affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri had stated that Delhi metro has suffered a loss of around Rs 1,609 crore due to the closure of metro services in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Delhi Metro services, which were shut on March 22 to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, resumed on September 7 in a phased manner. Full-fledged normal operations resumed on September 12. During the lockdown period, he said, preparatory work like detailed designing, preparation of tender schedule and finalisation of tenders, among other things, had been carried out by the Delhi Metro.
