Union minister directs officials to plan metro line along Dwarka expressway

A spokesperson for the minister said that during the meeting officials from ministry of urban development and DMRC stated that a ridership study on the proposed Dwarka expressway route will be soon conducted.

The Union minister for state for planning and Gurugram MP Rao Inderjit Singh on Thursday directed officials from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation (HMRTC) to explore the possibility of a metro project along the Dwarka Expressway connecting Kherki Daula with the Airport Metro Line, which at present terminates at Yasho Bhoomi metro station, said officials aware of the matter.

The directions were issued by the minister during a review meeting of Gurugram Metro, RRTS project, and other infrastructure projects in the city on Thursday. (HT Photo)

The directions were issued by the minister during a review meeting of Gurugram Metro, RRTS project, and other infrastructure projects in the city on Thursday. Officials from Niti Ayog, Ministry of statistics, HMRTC, National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), DMRC, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), National highways Authority of India (NHAI) and district administration were present during the meeting, said a government spokesperson.

“It is important that metro projects are conceived and executed in Gurugram at the earliest. The metro link along the Dwarka expressway is a natural progression of the Airport metro line and it should be extended upto Kherki Daula, where it will meet with the proposed RRTS rail of NCRTC and also converge with the Pachgaon metro project of HMRTC. It is crucial that the metro projects should not be delayed as has happened for the Old Gurugram Metro line,” said the minister, adding that directions have been issued to all the departments to remove the bottlenecks for road and metro projects on priority.

A spokesperson for the minister said that during the meeting officials from ministry of urban development and DMRC stated that a ridership study on the proposed Dwarka expressway route will be soon conducted.

“The officials also informed in the meeting that the work has also begun on preparing the detailed project report (DPR) for the proposed metro route from the airport line to Iffco Chowk,” he added.

The union minister also directed the civic agencies in Gurugram to remove bottlenecks in the construction of road between Hero Honda Chowk and Umang Bhardwaj Chowk, where the NHAI is upgrading the road to six lanes and the proposed metro line will pass through it.

During the meeting, the officials from GMDA informed that only one property with a stay order from court remained to be vacated on this stretch and the next date of court hearing is on September 23. “All the remaining structures and bottlenecks have been removed or these are being removed. The tender for shifting the power utilities and sub stations has also been floated,” said a senior government official aware of the matter.

During the meeting, the minister also discussed the RRTS project from Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi to SNB (Shahjahanpur, Neemrana, Behror) via Gurugram under the Namo Bharat Corridor. A district administration spokesperson said that Singh asked the NCRTC that the RRTS project should be extended to Bawal in Rewari district, beyond Dharuhera, as it is also a major industrial area.

The union minister also sought answers from officials present in the meeting regarding the delay in starting work on the Old Gurugram Metro line after the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone on February 24. He also said that the cost of the old Gurugram metro project, which was conceived in 2016, had doubled due to huge delays in the implementation of the project.

The Gurugram Metro extension project was conceived in 2016 and has been delayed by almost nine years as the state government could not finalise the metro route and related issues. GMRL is now executing the project in two phases and it is expected to be completed by 2029.