Delhi: Metro doesn’t know what to do with men & machine after Phase-III

NEW DELHI: Since 1998, Delhi Metro has been busy constructing like a well-oiled machine, finishing one project after another. Twenty years and nearly 300 kilometres of network later, it is now on the brink of coming to a grinding halt.

The Delhi government’s delay in approving the Phase IV project of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) means the metro won’t have any project to take up as the work on Phase III winds up soon. With contractors engaged for Phase III already de-mobilising men and heavy machinery out of Delhi, DMRC would have to remobilise both whenever it gets the go-ahead for Phase IV, resulting in cost overruns and further delay in project completion.

“Contractors are now utilising heavy machines like tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and big cranes in other projects and are taking these away from here,” DMRC managing director Mangu Singh told TOI. “This will have impact on the cost of Phase IV. When we do the bidding for Phase IV, this will have an impact,” he added.

Usually, DMRC starts work on a new phase even before the previous phase is completed. This helps contractors who again win a bid as they just shift their men and machinery from one site to another.

The delay also means that DMRC’s pool of more than 600 skilled engineers won’t have enough work. Singh, however, said DMRC was involved in other projects as well. “We are constructing 33 kilometres of the metro network in Mumbai, apart from construction work for extension of metro corridors in Jaipur and Kochi.” It is largely DMRC engineers who are working on these projects, Singh added.

DMRC is also using this lean period to learn and sharpen its tools for the next phase, the managing director said. Learing from the experience of the previous phase, DMRC gets ready to avoid similar problems in the next phase, he added. “This is an important exercise.”

“We utilise such a period for training, too,” said Singh. DMRC’s top management will be sent to an IIM while the middle management, including engineers, will undergo extensive in-house training for three months. “People are not sitting idle, we are gainfully employed,” Singh said.

The 104km-long Phase IV is likely to cost Rs 55,208 crore. It got an in-principle approval from the Delhi government in January 2017 but a final approval and financial commitment is still awaited. The Delhi government and the Centre have an equal stake in DMRC and follow a 50:50 equity sharing model.

In March 2018, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said three out of the six corridors under Phase IV were unviable and the government would okay only the three viable corridors. However, that approval is also yet to come. Transport minister Kailash Gahlot could not be contacted despite repeated calls and messages.