Metro expansion: Over 50% work on 3 corridors finished

New Delhi, June 30

More than 50 per cent work has been completed on all three priority corridors under the fourth phase of the Delhi Metro’s expansion project, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said on Sunday.

The corporation has set a target of operationalising all three priority corridors comprising 65-km network of new lines by 2026. Although work on the fourth phase of the expansion project started in December 2019, progress was significantly impacted from 2020 to 2022 due to the Covid pandemic and delays in getting permissions to cut trees, the officials said.

An agency official said work on the expansion project had been going on only in the past two years. “More than 50 per cent progress has already been achieved on all three corridors. On the Majlis Park-Maujpur corridor, about 80 per cent civil work has been completed,” said Anuj Dayal, the DMRC’s principal executive director of corporate communications.

“Tunnelling work is in progress on various stretches of the Aerocity-Tughlakabad (Golden Line) and the Janakpuri West-RK Ashram Marg (Magenta Line) corridors,” he added.

Despite the adverse Covid situation and delay in getting various permissions, the section from Janakpuri West to Krishna Park Extension under the fourth phase, was now almost complete and likely to open by August, Dayal said.

The DMRC official said, “The entire Majlis Park-Maujpur corridor is also likely to open next year. The remaining sections of the priority corridors are expected to open in phases by 2026.”

However, certain permissions for tree cutting and acquisition of land pockets at isolated locations were still pending, the official claimed.

Dayal said, “The project is being monitored at various levels daily and site visits are taken up at the highest level to expedite the work. Permissions to cut trees are being pursued at appropriate levels.”

Two more corridors under Phase 4 — Inderlok-Indraprastha and Saket G Block-Lajpat Nagar — had also received approval recently. The DMRC is seeking clearances for land acquisition, clearing forests and cutting trees. Further processes involving planning and issuing tenders for civil works were underway, Dayal said.