Chandigarh: Governor asked the administration to examine financial feasibility
Chandigarh: The launch of metro in the tricity is likely to be delayed as Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria has asked the administration to examine the financial viability of the project in cities of similar size. A committee will be set up to study the economic viability of the project in other cities and the report will be submitted in the next meeting, an official said. Moving ahead towards Chandigarh’s metro-mass rapid transit (MRT) network expansion, the third meeting of the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA) was held today under the chairmanship of Kataria to discuss the ‘Options Analysis Report’ and ‘Geotechnical Investigation Report’ for MRTS in the tricity.
The UMTA is an integrated platform to handle the overall mobility issues of the tricity and ensure coordination among various stakeholders, institutions and the implementation of this mobility plan to improve the traffic situation in the city. At the meeting, a detailed presentation was made on the metro train network spanning about 154.5 km in two phases for the tricity. Under Phase-1, 85.65 km route has been proposed in the Tricity, which includes 16.5 km underground route in heritage sectors of Chandigarh. The key topics discussed during the presentation included ridership projections, geotechnical investigations, alternative analysis, type of MRTS system, depot land requirement, etc.
As per the alternative analysis report prepared by the project consultant- RITES, two coach metro has been found to be the most viable MRT system for the Tricity. As per the report, work on the Phase-1 corridor will be completed by 2032 with both overhead and underground network. Detailed deliberations were held on the subject and it was decided that the next meeting would be held after a month after carrying out some necessary further investigation in the matter. The Governor asked the officials to examine the financial/economic feasibility for cities of similar size, where metro has been commissioned, to better plan the project in the Tricity.
Ring Road
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has chalked out plans regarding development of ring road in Chandigarh, as traffic in the tricity has increased manifold. NHAI officials informed the meeting about the status of Zirakpur-Panchkula bypass to decongest traffic coming from Delhi and going towards Himachal Pradesh.
Shorter route to airport
A presentation was made on alternate shorter route to Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport from the east route (Junction-63), which will reduce the total distance from 11.6 km to 3.5 km. The Punjab government also informed the meeting about another alternate route being developed by GMADA, which will reduce the distance from 11.6 km to 8.5 km. The Haryana government proposed to examine the feasibility of using the old airport terminal route to provide easy connectivity to passengers coming from Panchkula and Himachal Pradesh.
