Nod likely for new Gurugram metro corridors at next Centre, Haryana cabinet meetings

GURUGRAM: The next Cabinet meetings of the state and central governments may put on track the two proposed Metro corridors planned for the city, where the existing urban rail network is limited to just 17km and has not been expanded since 2017.

One of the two lines planned is the 8.4km corridor to connect Gurugram with Delhi from Palam Vihar to Dwarka. For intra-city transport, the Metro line will run over 29.8km between Huda City Centre and Cyber City. Both the projects have been sketched out, but are in different stages of approvals.

Officials of the Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation (HMRTC) told TOI on Tuesday that a revised proposal for the Palam Vihar-Dwarka line has been approved by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

In May, the CM had gone through an earlier version of the DPR and suggested that the last 1.5km portion of the corridor in Delhi should be built underground. HMRTC officials refused to divulge if the approved DPR accounts for this change.

In the initial proposal, four stations – Rezang La Chowk, Choma, Sector 110, and Sector 111 – spanning 4.4km were to be built in Gurugram, and the remaining three – Dwarka (Sector 28), Dwarka (Sector 25), and Dwarka (Sector 21) – in the capital.

The next stage is to get the state cabinet nod. “The proposal will now be placed before the Haryana Cabinet from where, if approved, it will go to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA),” said a senior HMRTC official. He added that officials of the central government have been briefed about the Delhi-Gurugram corridor, and “they have agreed in-principle that it is a good line”.

Though approved by the state cabinet in August 2020, the DPR for the intra-city Metro line has been under consideration of the Union housing ministry for months now. It was originally sent to the ministry in February last year but in September 2021, the Institute of Urban Transport – under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) – sought clarifications.

The long-winded process for approvals was repeated with a revised proposal, the DPR for which was circulated to MoHUA and the Public Investment Board (PIB) for a go-ahead. PIB examines investment plans of ministries under the central government.

“As per the latest update, the DPR is now being considered by PIB. Once it is approved there, it will be placed before the Union Cabinet. We are very optimistic that the approval will come soon,” said the official quoted above.

The Huda City Centre-Cyber City line, according to the DPR, will have 27 stations on an elevated route.

It will cross some of the busiest intersections and densely populated areas of the city: Sector 45, Cyber Park, Sector 47, Subhash Chowk, Sector 48, Sector 72A, Hero Honda Chowk, Sector 10, Sector 37, Basai village, Sectors 9, 7, 4 and 5, Ashok Vihar, Sector 3, Bajghera Road, Palam Vihar Extension, Palam Vihar, Sector 23A, Sector 22, and Udyog Vihar-4, -5 and -6.

Currently, two Metro lines – 5.3km of Delhi Metro’s Yellow Line, and the 11.7km Rapid Metro line (Cyber City to Golf Course Road) – run in Gurugram.