At meeting with Central Govt, Chandigarh suggests underground Metro in city

Tribune News Service

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Chandigarh, January 15

At a meeting with officials from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in Delhi today, the UT Administration has recommended that the proposed Metro project for the city should be predominantly underground to preserve the city’s aesthetic structure.

The Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee’s sub-committee, considering the city’s heritage status, has favoured the underground approach for the entire Metro project. The UT Administration has communicated this decision to the Ministry, and a detailed report on the underground project has been requested for a final decision.

UNESCo guidelines on city landmarks

• UT has recommended that the Metro within the sectoral grid should be underground despite the substantially higher cost
• According to UNESCO norms, the Metro section connecting Capitol Complex and Sukhna Lake needs heritage impact assessment
• Section of alignment in sectoral grid needs approval of the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee
• As per the SC judgment on apartmentalisation, Sectors 1 to 30 are heritage sectors and have to be protected and preserved

The ministry is expected to have representatives in the upcoming meeting of the Unified Metro Transportation Authority (UMTA).

The sub-committee had suggested that no stretch of the Metro in the city should be elevated. This is also in agreement with recommendations of the Chandigarh Master Plan 2031.

In a bid to preserve the heritage status of the city, the Administration has recommended that the Metro within the sectoral grid should be underground despite the substantially higher cost.

According to UNESCO guidelines, the Metro section connecting Capitol Complex and Sukhna Lake needs heritage impact assessment and section of alignment in sectoral grid needs approval of the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee (CHCC). Also, as per the Supreme Court judgment on apartmentalisation, Sectors 1 to 30 are heritage sectors and have to be protected and preserved.

Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), in its Alternative Analysis Report (AAR) for Phase I, has outlined three corridors spanning Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula. While the Madhya Marg corridor in Chandigarh’s heritage sectors (1 to 30) is proposed to be entirely elevated, the other two corridors will be predominantly elevated with some underground sections. Opting for underground corridors is estimated to raise the project cost by approximately Rs 8,000 crore, bringing the total project outlay to around Rs 19,000 crore.

The overall tentative cost of the Metro project, according to the RITES report, is approximately Rs 11,000 crore, with Haryana and Punjab contributing 20%, the Centre 20% and the lending agency financing the remaining 60%.

During the UMTA meeting on December 18, 2023, a decision was made to request the Central Government to determine whether the Metro project should have an elevated or underground network. RITES also submitted a report on traffic and system relations to the UT Administration on December 28 last year, addressing increasing traffic congestion in the tricity and future traffic requirements.

In adherence to the Central Government guidelines, the UT Administration, in July last year, committed to involving all stakeholders, including Haryana and Punjab, in preparing the AAR and Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Metro. Both states have already released their contributions for the DPR's preparation.

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