Work on new Metro corridors to start by March next year

As the two Metro corridors— Dahisar-DN Nagar and Andheri East-Dahisar East— were cleared by the Cabinet on Tuesday, state government official said that its civil construction will commence latest by March 2016. The two corridors are expected to be completed by March 2019.

The MMRDA has taken up a part of Metro-II corridor from Dahisar to DN Nagar corridor. The Metro-II will go up to Mankhurd via Bandra. The 18.6-km Dahisar-DN Nagar corridor will have 17 stations and is estimated to cost Rs 6,410 crore.

Meanwhile, Dahisar East-Andheri-East (16.5 km) corridor will have 16 stations and will cost Rs 6,208 crore.

By the current estimation, the project costs are Rs 4,385 crore and Rs 4,829 crore respectively. “These are the completion cost in which we have included cost escalation in four years. The two corridors since they’re elevated will be constructed faster than the underground one. The civil construction will start latest by March next year,” said a state government official.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation that prepared the detailed project reports of the two routes is likely to take up one of the corridor for construction. “DMRC is keen on taking up two corridors of up to 35 km in the city. They are most likely to take up Andheri East-Dahisar East corridor for construction,” another official said.

The official added that both routes will have fares on DMRC-scale. The fare on both routes would be Rs 10 for the first three kilometres and Rs 20 for up to 12 km, while the fare would be Rs 30 for a distance of more than 12 km.

According to the official, the corridor will be funded by MMRDA and state government. “For the funding, MMRDA will contribute 52% of the project cost while 48% will be put by the state government through loan,” the official said. He added that the bidding process can begin by next month. “MMRDA has the financial capabilities to fund the civil construction. Simultaneously, the loan procedures can also be pursued. The loan amount will be used for rolling stocks, electrical components and to build station infrastructure,” he added.

MMRDA officials added that the Dahisar East- Andheri East corridor is estimated to cater to a daily ridership of 5.28 lakh by 2021, and by 2031, this is estimated to grow to 6.67 lakh per day. The Dahisar-DN Nagar Metro will cater to a similar number of commuters daily.