Work on Metro corridor in its final leg

Five years after construction started on the city's first Metro corridor, a lion's share of the work is now over. Nearly 99 per cent of civil work, including most of the viaduct and crucial bridges, is complete.

The only civil work now remaining to be completed is roofing, finishing and launching of a small portion of the viaduct at Ghatkopar that got delayed due to difficulties in acquiring the right of way.

"Only about 300 metres of the viaduct is yet to be launched, which should be completed in about a month," said SVR Srinivas, additional metropolitan commissioner at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

The MMRDA recently got right of way in this area after more than two years of negotiations with a temple trust and a hospital located in the vicinity.

The construction that started in February 2008, as per contract, was originally supposed to be completed by March 2012. However authorities had expected to complete it in 2011 itself.

The Reliance Infrastructure-led consortium, Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL), recently amended the contract to extend the period of construction by about 540 days till August 2013. The corridor is expected to be fully commissioned once the safety certification process is completed by the end of this year.

Srinivas had visited construction sites Friday last week to check on the progress of the project.

"There is a good progress on stations too. However, construction of about 40-50 per cent of work at Asalfa Metro station is yet to be completed due to delay in acquiring right of way," he said. "The Metro can be initially commissioned with one station less if the Asalfa Metro station is not ready on time," he added.

Along with the viaduct, the MMOPL has also finished laying tracks on about 95 per cent of the length of the corridor.

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