Expanding its existing network,the Haryana government has finalised a new Metro route from Sikandarpur to Sector 56-57,in Gurgaon. The new route,almost seven km long,will connect the Delhi Metro Line 2 (Central Secretariat-Gurgaon) at Sikandarpur and is expected to have nine stations. We have evaluated the feasibility of the project and are in the final stage of issuing tender notices for the project, said S S Dhillon,principal secretary and financial commissioner,Town and Country Planning,Haryana, This would be the second private Metro venture in the state. A 6.1-km loop emanating from Sikandarpur,connecting the same Delhi Metro line with various DLF sites,is already under construction. The company Rapid Metro Gurgaon Ltd (RMGL) which has undertaken the project,plans to construct six stations on this loop at DLF Phase 2,Belvedere Tower,DLF Phase 3,Gateway Tower and Mall of India. This stretch is expected to become functional in the first quarter of 2013. We expect that trials on this loop will begin by the end of 2012. Once operational,we may extend the loop to Udyog Vihar and,if possible,till the Maruti factory. This would be another 2.5 km towards NH-8, said Dhillon. The RMGL,a consortium of DLF Metro (24 per cent) and IL&FS (76 per cent),is said to have already submitted detailed project reports to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) proposing to be considered for the Sikandarpur-Sector 56 stretch and the extension towards Udyog Vihar. It is immaterial (who is interested). Open tenders would be invited, said Dhillon. He added that since the Sikandarpur-Sector 56 stretch is likely to draw a large number of passengers,HUDA is expecting better returns (compared to the first project) by tendering out the work to a private company. For the first project,HUDA and the RMGL Ltd signed an agreement in 2008 to share project revenue. Other than a Rs 5 crore,which the consortium paid HUDA,it has to pay Rs 40 crore each year from the seventeenth year onwards till the thirty-sixth year as connectivity charges, Dhillon said. HUDA is expected to gather better remuneration from the new venture in the form of connectivity charges, he added. The HUDA office has been asked to provide a free-from-encumbrances area for the construction of the elevated line. Less than two acres is needed for the project, said Dhillon.
