Deadline for completion of Pink Line extended to April 2018
NEW DELHI: The longest corridor of Delhi Metro's Phase III project, the Pink Line (MukundpurShiv Vihar), has yet again set another deadline April 2018.
This line which stretches for 59 kilometres has been battling land acquisition woes at certain stretches. It had already missed it December 2016 set deadline.
However, a major part of the line, from Mukundpur to Lajpat Nagar, will be ‘completed' by September, a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official said.
“Its eventual commissioning may take some more time,” added the official. A total of seven segments will be constructed on six corridors in the Phase-iii project.
These segments include Majlis Park–shiv Vihar, Janakpuri West–kalindi Kunj, Central Secretariat–kashmere Gate, Jahangirpuri– Badli, Badarpur - Escorts Mujesar, Dwarka–najafgarh and Mundka–bahadurgarh. Since then, the metro has revised the new target date of completion several times.
The latest metro project report states that around 91 per cent of civil work will be completed by March.
Magenta Line, another crucial project of Phase III, that will connect west Delhi to Noida via IGI Airport's domestic terminal, is likely to be ‘opened' in three stages - from May to September, the report adds.
Here, the progress of civil works up to March stands at 91.37 per cent.
A small section of the 38-km-long line (Line 8), running between Noida, Botanical Garden, and Kalkaji, may be opened by May, before its launch in entirety in December, an official said.
The Pink Line with 38 stations is the most significant corridor of the entire Delhi metro network as it has been laid like a ring touching all parts of Delhi.
Also, it will drastically cut travel time between eastern and southern flanks of the national capital.
With eight interchange stations, the line alone is going to take the maximum load of the 40 lakh people per day metro ridership which is expected after the opening of Phase III.
This line will connect northwest Delhi's Mukundpur to northeast Delhi's Shiv Vihar cutting across various south Delhi areas including Sarojini Nagar, INA, South Extension and densely populated parts of east Delhi such as Mayur Vihar Phase I, Vinodnagar and Karkardooma.
Earlier, DMRC chief Singh had said that both these lines will be launched in a staggered manner, meaning, small sections will be made operational instead of the entire corridors being thrown open in one go. The phase-iii expansion project is being implemented at a cost of around Rs 40,000 crore, a total of 140 km of the network will be added to the current coverage of 213 km. With this, Delhi's wait for the crucial extension of its signature mass rapid transit just got longer.
This 59 kilometres long line had already missed it December 2016 set deadline