Phase IV Metro: Cabinet nod for 3 priority corridors

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro had in 2018 written to the city government and the Centre seeking nod to begin work on the three ‘priority corridors’ which were approved on Thursday by the Union Cabinet under the Phase-IV project, DMRC sources said.

Of the six proposed corridors, the three that got the cabinet nod are: Mukundpur-Maujpur (12.54 km), Janakpuri West-R K Ashram (28.92 km) and Tughlakabad-Aerocity (20.20 km). 

“These were the three ‘priority corridors’ mentioned in the DMRC’s communication to the Delhi government and the Centre in 2018," a DMRC source said. The three corridors were approved by the Union Cabinet in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

The other three proposed corridors are: Rithala-Narela (21.73 km), Inderlok-Indraprastha (12.58 km) and Lajpat Nagar-Saket G-Block (7.96 km). 

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had approached the two authorities when the Phase-IV was yet to get an approval from the city government. The Kejriwal government had on December 19 last approved the much-awaited Phase-IV of the DMRC which will eventually span 104 km. 

While approving the Phase-IV of the metro network, the Kejriwal dispensation had imposed a condition of 50-50 percent operational loss sharing between the Centre and the Delhi government. 

An official of the ministry had earlier said the Delhi government had also put a condition that it will not have any liability on loan provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to fund the project. 

After the Union Cabinet's decision, Kejriwal tweeted that the people of Delhi were “disappointed” by the Centre's decision to approve only three of the six corridors. 

Union government officials said the three corridors were approved owing also to the “financial viability”. There will be 17 underground and 29 elevated stations in the three corridors whose total length will be 61.679 km -- 22.359 km underground and 39.320 km elevated. 

Union minister Hardeep Puri at a press conference said, that the total completion cost of these three Metro corridors will be Rs 24,948.65 crore. He said the addition of 61.679 km network through these three new corridors will also reduce congestion on roads and thus help in reducing pollution caused by motor vehicles. 

On completion of these corridors, the commuters will have interchange stations connecting the new corridors with the existing lines of the Delhi Metro. 

The DMRC is also about to finish work on Phase-III with the 9.4-km Dilshad Garden-New Bus Adda section of Red Line slated to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 8 and services will begin the next day. 

While the 6.675-km Noida City Centre - Noida Electronic City section of Blue Line) will be opened for services on Saturday.