DMRC 4th phase expansion: Over 50% work complete on all three corridors

More than 50 per cent work is complete on all three priority corridors under Delhi Metro's fourth phase expansion project, the DMRC said on Sunday.

A target of 2026 has been set for operationalising the new 65-kilometre network, it added.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials said the Phase 4 expansion project is progressing rapidly with a target of opening all three priority corridors comprising 65 kilometres of new lines by 2026.

Though work on the fourth phase 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, they said.

An agency official said work on the expansion project had been going only since the past one-and-a-half to two years, giving the DMRC about four years to complete the expansion project.

"At present, 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," the DMRC's principal executive director of corporate communications Anuj Dayal said.

"Tunneling 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 Phase 4 section from Janakpuri West to Krishna Park Extension is now almost complete and is likely to open by August, Dayal 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, he said.

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

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, Dayal said.

Two more corridors under Phase 4 -- Inderlok-Indraprastha and Saket G Block-Lajpat Nagar -- also received approval recently.

The DMRC is seeking clearances for land acquisition, clearing forests and cutting trees. Further processes on planning and tendering for civil works are underway, Dayal said.