by THO
The Delhi government on Monday said it will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which is likely to expedite work for the three under-construction Phase-4 Metro corridors, officials aware of the matter said.
The MoU will facilitate swift transfer of any land required for Metro construction to the DMRC, while also setting up a high power committee (HPC) chaired by the chief secretary and consisting of secretaries from different government departments for speedy action, the officials said.
In an official statement, the Chief Minister’s Office on Monday said the signing of the MoU was approved by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and is likely to help remove any roadblocks in the construction, with Kejriwal also simultaneously pushing to get the three pending Phase-4 corridors approved soon.
These three pending corridors, if approved, are likely to add another 47.25 kms of Metro network in Delhi. Currently, work on the three approved Phase-4 corridors — Maujpur to Majlis Park, Janakpuri West to RK Ashram, and Tughlakabad to Aerocity — is going on.
“With the signing of the MoU, all possible obstacles in the way of construction work for these three corridors will be completely removed. These three approved Metro corridors will be 65.20 kilometers long and will have 45 stations. The MoU was stuck for many years..,” the statement said, adding that a delay in signing these MoUs, required as a statutory obligation under the Metro Rail Policy, 2017, could further have delayed completion.
Action under the MoU includes lease and transfer of government land as well as procurement of private land, if required. The MoU also mandates the government to set up a traffic information management control centre for future planning, with the MoU being valid till the time the debt for the project is repaid in full. The Centre and Delhi government hold 50:50 equity in the Delhi Metro.
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“The Delhi government is also trying to get approval for three other corridors pending with the central government under phase four as soon as possible,” officials added.
The three pending Phase-4 corridors, which are yet to be approved by the Centre are: Rithala-Bawana-Narela, Inderlok-Indraprastha and Lajpat Nagar-Saket G-Block.
The Delhi government had approved all six Phase-4 corridors in December 2018. However, the Centre in March 2019, approved only three of these corridors. Construction for the three approved corridors began by the end of 2019, with the Covid-induced lockdowns slowing down construction progress.
DMRC did not comment on the development.
Currently, the DMRC is operating a network of approximately 393 km in Delhi-National Capital Region, which consists of 288 stations. There are a total of 12 Metro lines operational in the region, which includes the Rapid Metro in Gurugram, Airport Express Line and Aqua Line (Noida-Greater Noida).
