Delhi Metro ridership only half of the figure projected by DMRC: CAG report

The 116-page report, which is critical of the DMRC’s revenue generation from property development and operational management, was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) actual ridership has only reached 51.97% of its projected ridership and the operational cost ratio -- the ratio of operating cost to income generated -- has increased from 48.9% in 2011-12 to 80.5% in 2019-20, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) report on DMRC’s implementation of its Phase III. The 116-page report, which is critical of the DMRC’s revenue generation from property development and operational management, was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs.

The CAG report said pointed out that the DMRC had projected an average daily ridership in the entire network would rise to 53.47 lakh in 2019-20 but the actual ridership was only around 27.79 lakh. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

The performance audit was carried out for a period between November 2018 and March 2020 to assess efficiency of the Delhi Metro’s operation and maintenance, planning process undertaken to ensure economic viability of the project, and project monitoring, among others.

“DMRC may enhance its efforts to increase operating efficiency by reducing the operating ratio and also estimate more realistic ridership for future detailed project reports (DPR),” CAG recommended.

With a 391km network spread across Delhi-NCR — the biggest Metro network in the country — the Delhi Metro is the transport lifeline of the national capital.

While the Metro has claimed that its ridership has increased over the years with the expansion of its network, the CAG report said that the actual ridership is much lower than the projected ridership mentioned in the initial DPR. Revenue from fare collection is DMRC’s main source of income.

The CAG report said pointed out that the DMRC had projected an average daily ridership in the entire network (phases I, II and III) would rise to 53.47 lakh in 2019-20 but the actual ridership was only around 27.79 lakh (51.97% of the projected figure). The report also claimed that DMRC had projected a daily ridership of around 20.89 lakhs in the four Phase-III corridors in 2019-20 but the actual ridership was just 4.38 lakh. The report states that the drop in ridership was noticed after the fare hike in 2017-18.

“Similarly, in case of National Capital Region/other extension, the actual ridership on these corridors were 15.12-87.63% lower than projected ridership,” said the report.

Shortfall in property revenue

The CAG report also pointed to massive shortfall with regard to the projected revenue generation from property development.

The report said that though the DMRC estimated ₹1,917.25 crore revenue from property business under Phase-III and extensions between 2016-17 and 2019-20, it managed to generate only ₹76.06 crore during this period.

Similarly, the report said, “As against consolidated targeted earning of ₹2,505 crore (from Phase-II & Phase-III) from property development as per sanction letters issued by GoI, DMRC could generate only ₹657.13 crore (26.23%) from property development till March 31, 2020.”

The government auditor also pointed out several instances where the DMRC is yet to acquire the land for property development or the developed properties are lying under-utilised.

For instance, on the Badarpur-Faridabad-Ballabhgarh corridor, the Delhi Metro has developed 44,751 sqm of area at a cost of ₹151.49 crore, out of which 40,071 sqm is lying unused as the DMRC has not been able to lease it out, said the report.

The report also pointed out instances where the DMRC has not recovered the cost of construction from other agencies. Highlighting one particular case, the report said that to make the Mundka-Bahadurgarh corridor financially viable, the DMRC proposed “residential” land use at a four hectare plot in Ghevra (Delhi) and 1.56 hectare plot in Haryana to be taken for property development. The Metro corridor was completed in June 2018, but the land parcels had not been acquired as of December 2020, pointed out the report.

The CAG rejected the DMRC and Union housing and urban affairs ministry’s reply that the Delhi government didn’t provide the land for the project.

“The reply of the Ministry/GNCTD and DMRC is not acceptable as DMRC had not ensured availability of said land for property development which was of paramount importance to make the project viable,” said the report.

Additionally, the auditor pointed out that there were discrepancies in estimating the number of trees to be cut in the DPR and environment impact assessment study, and the cost of compensatory plantation. “There was no monitoring of compensatory afforestation locations and disposal of wood as per the permit letters. DMRC deposited an excess amount of ₹14.20 crore in advance with the forest department, GNCTD...the number of trees cut was less than the permission granted,” the report read.

The CAG was also critical of DMRC’s inability to provide last mile connectivity, noting that only 43.5% of the feeder buses (174 out of 400) were used and bus services were available only on 44% of the total approved routes due to the shortage of buses. It recommended DMRC to improve the last mile connectivity.

DMRC officials did not respond to requests seeking comment.