No centre nod yet, key metro project in Gurugram may not start this year

GURUGRAM: Work on the Gurugram metro corridor between Huda City Centre and Cyber City is unlikely to begin this year. The detailed project report (DPR) is awaiting the Union urban development ministry’s approval, according to the Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation Limited .

Officials from the corporation said the DPR is awaiting approval of the ministry for several months now. Even if the ministry gives its nod, work is unlikely to begin this year as construction will take around three months to start, they said. “We have sent the DPR to the urban development ministry after getting approval from the government of Haryana. Approval from the ministry hasn’t come yet,” an official told TOI.

“After we get the go-ahead, it will take three months to start work on the ground because we will have to float tenders and initiate other processes as well,” the official added.

At present, two metro routes are operational in Gurugram — the Yellow Line, which has 7km of its entire 14.5km stretch in Gurugram, and the Rapid Metro corridor, which is 11.6km long and connects Cyber City to Sector 56 with 11 stations. While the Yellow Line provides connectivity between Gurugram and Delhi, the Rapid Metro provides connectivity within Gurugram, along Cyber City and Golf Course road.

The Gurugram metro plan has been in the pipeline for the last five years. It was, however, only in 2019 that any concrete action was taken, and a route was decided upon. As per the DPR, the new metro route will be 28.8km long, and will have a total of 27 elevated stations, including a spur to the Dwarka Expressway.

It will run in a loop between Huda City Centre and Cyber City via Sector 45, Cyber Park, Sector 47, Subhash Chowk, Sector 48, Sector 72A, Hero Honda Chowk, Udyog Vihar-6, Sector 10, Sector 37, Basai village (from where it will have a spur to Dwarka Expressway), sectors 9, 7, 4 and 5, Ashok Vihar, Sector 3, Bajghera Road, Palam Vihar Extension, Palam Vihar, Sector 23A, Sector 22, Udyog Vihar-4 and Udyog Vihar-5.

The project will cost Rs 6,821.1 crore and may be operational by 2025. According to the DPR, the ridership on the corridor is estimated at 5.3 lakh passenger per day in 2025, with the number rising to 7.3 lakh by 2031, and 8.8 lakh by 2041.