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Share fate of Metro by February end: High court to Chandigarh admn

By, Chandigarh
Jan 24, 2025 09:58 AM IST

The high court bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel passed the directions after additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain informed the court that the Chandigarh administration had constituted a committee to look into the feasibility of Metro project thoroughly in coordination with M/s RITES Ltd

The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the Chandigarh administration to apprise the court of the fate of the long-awaited Metro project by February-end.

The court was hearing a clutch of petitions on growing traffic congestion in the tricity towns and demand of remedial measures by the authorities, including construction of flyovers, more roads and mass rapid transit system. (Stock image)
The court was hearing a clutch of petitions on growing traffic congestion in the tricity towns and demand of remedial measures by the authorities, including construction of flyovers, more roads and mass rapid transit system. (Stock image)

The high court bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel passed the directions after additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain informed the court that the Chandigarh administration had constituted a committee to look into the feasibility of Metro project thoroughly in coordination with M/s RITES Ltd.

No other proposal except this intimation had been received from the administration by the Government of India, he told the court.

The court was hearing a clutch of petitions on growing traffic congestion in the tricity towns and demand of remedial measures by the authorities, including construction of flyovers, more roads and mass rapid transit system.

“The Metro project for Chandigarh is hanging fire since prior to 2021 and it is the Chandigarh administration who has to take a call and decide as to whether the Metro project, which is to be constructed not only in Chandigarh but also in certain areas of Panchkula and Mohali and the areas surrounding Chandigarh, would be feasible or not,” the bench observed, adding that in view of this it was expected that the Chandigarh administration took a decision in this regard.

The compliance report has been sought by the next date of hearing on February 27.

Feasibility report ready

The committee, formed by the UT, to which Jain was referring to has concluded its surveys and is about to submit its final report.

As per reports, the committee has concluded that Metro project is viable for the tricity but will become profitable for the operators only after a decade.

The eight-member committee is likely to submit its feasibility report to the members of the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) -- a platform to address mobility challenges across tricity -- during the upcoming UMTA meeting on January 28.

The committee studied Metro systems in four cities—Ahmedabad, Kochi, Jaipur and Noida—to formulate its recommendations.

The estimated cost of the Tricity Metro project is 24,000 crore. In April 2024, RITES had recommended a two-coach Metro system as the most viable transit solution for the tricity in its Alternatives Analysis Report (AAR). According to the AAR, Phase 1 of the Metro project is expected to be completed by 2032. This phase will cover 85.65 km, including both elevated and underground routes. Notably, 16.5 km of the underground route will pass through Chandigarh’s heritage sectors.

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