Delhi govt puts metro phase-iii on track

Cost is likely to be over Rs 30,000 crore including duties and taxes

Delhi govt puts metro phase-iii on track

Cost is likely to be over Rs 30,000 crore including duties and taxes

If you stay in Delhi or the National Capital Region (NCR), here's some good news for you. The Delhi government on Monday gave its nod to a revised proposal for Metro's phase-III - including two new lines and extension of another three existing routes - and will now send the recommendation to a Group of Ministers (GoM) for clearance.

The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting presided over by the Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
"We have approved five routes of a total length of 108 km under the Metro third phase and now we will send this to the GoM. A route from Najafgarh to Dwarka has been added," Dikshit told reporters.

Delhi government has decided to commission two lines - Mukundpur-Yamuna Vihar and Janakpuri West-Noida Botanical Garden and extend three existing routes - Badarpur-Central Secretariat up to Kashmere Gate, HUDA City Centre-Gurgaon- Jahangirpuri up to Badli and Dwarka line up to Najafgarh.

Dikshit stated that her government is keen to extend the coverage of Delhi Metro service in the capital as its services have been reliable, fast, pollution-free and hassle-free.

Under Phase-II, route length of 108 km has almost been commissioned except a section of 3.32 km from Kirti Nagar to Ashok Park, which is likely to be commissioned in the next two months.

Dikshit said in all, 67 stations will come up under the third phase. Around 41 km of line will be underground and rest 67 km will be elevated. The anticipated cost of Phase-III will be over Rs 30,000 crore including taxes and duties.

Central Secretariat-Badapur Line will be extended up to Kashmere Gate with seven stations and route length of around 10 km. Another line is to be extended from HUDA City Centre, Gurgaon-Jahangirpuri up to Badli with three new stations and route of length of around 5 km.

The extension of 5 km route on existing Dwarka line up to Najafgarh has also been approved. Dikshit added that with completion of the third phase it is expected that entire Ring Road will be connected with Metro service which will provide much relief to the commuters. The Cabinet has also decided to get prepared a detailed project report on priority basis for extension of existing Dilshad Garden-Rithala line up to Bawana.

Gaining ground
One of the new routes is Mukundpur-Rajouri Garden-Dhaula Kuan-Anand Vihar-Yamuna Vihar with 35 stations and total route length of around 56 km. This line will pass through Naraina with a new Metro station. Another new route is Janakpuri West-Munirka-Kalkaji-Jamia-Kalindi Kunj-Botanical Garden Noida with 22 stations and route of around 34 km.