Delhi Govt Okays Second Phase Of Metro Project

The Delhi government has approved the 42 km second phase of the metro rail project in the city, which will connect Noida, Vasant Kunj and Azadpur. The completion cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 8,900 crore, and work on the new links is expected to start by the year 2005.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which is expected to complete the entire 63 km Phase-1 of the project by 2005, has started preparing a detailed project report for the second phase at a cost of Rs 5 crore.

According to DMRC, after the detailed project report is prepared, around two years will be required for tying up finances.

The work on Phase-II of the project would start by March 2005, and was expected to be completed by 2010, officials involved in the exercise said.

As per initial projections on the new links, the highest passenger traffic is expected on the Barakhamba Road-Noida section, which will pass through Patparganj and Mayur Vihar, with initial estimates pegged at 1.02 million passengers per day.

The Delhi University-Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar section, which will pass through areas like Naya Azadpur and Jahangirpuri, is expected to cater to 0.42 million passengers, while the estimated traffic on the Central Secretariat-Vasant Kunj route is around 0.56 million passengers per day.

After the detailed project report is prepared, DMRC will approach the Centre for clearance of the route.

It will also ask funding agencies like the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to raise the debt component of the financing scheme.