Delhi Metro Phase IV leads to “colossal waste of money”

NEW DELHI: The corridors proposed under the Delhi Metro’s Phase IV got a red flag from the Delhi government’s finance department. According to the department, “Phase IV will not carry enough commuters to qualify as a “high capacity” Metro system even in 2031, leading to a colossal waste of money.”  In the month of January, the DMRC wrote to the Delhi government regarding the project implementation and seeking approval for three corridors Mukundpur to Maujpur, Aerocity to Tughlaqabad, and Janakpuri West to RK Ashram. The DMRC while seeking approval listed these corridors as “priority”.

The Union Finance Minister on Monday granted an approval to the project. The Delhi transport department has prepared the cabinet note and is waiting for the approval from the AAP government, without which the work for the corridor cannot start.  To examine the DPR (Detailed Project Report) of Phase IV with an estimated cost of Rs 52, 625 crore, the department suggested forming the committee of the experts from various departments. The committee will include experts from areas of transport planning, railways engineering, project and financial appraisal.

In the last three years, the department has reiterated its views twice.

S N Sahai, the former principal secretary (Finance) has also suggested that the out of six corridors four may be considered while the rest “may be deferred”.

Considering peak hour peak direction traffic (PHPDT) as a key parameter in deciding the choice of a transit system, the report states that high-quality Metro systems need to have a PHPDT of at least 40,000 but the PHPDP of the proposed corridors do not “qualify for a high capacity Metro”. The report states that the project will cost Rs 481 crore for every kilometre.