Delhi Metro Phase IV not financially viable, will lead to fare hike: Govt

On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Manish Sisodia said, “The proposal for Phase IV of the Metro has certain routes that are not financially viable. If they are implemented, Metro fees will have to be increased exorbitantly. There are routes proposed that are non-viable. We are conducting a study to make it more practical. Metro is needed for the city and for the future of the city and its people. But the Metro needs to remain accessible to the people.”

On Monday, Puri had said, “We are finding a solution. The solution is that where we are not getting support from the Delhi government over the Metro projects, we have decided to do it ourselves. Rapid rail corridors, we will do on our own… if they (Delhi government) are not willing to approve a project or not willing to provide funding, we are finding out the solution for it.”

Puri earlier said he had urged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to send the proposals to the ministry as soon as he could. The Delhi government is yet to give its commitment for Phase IV funding.

A Delhi government official said, “The finance department has found that there are Metro routes that will lead to losses and, consequently, exorbitant fares. The fares were already increased without the assent of the Delhi government. If this happens again, the Metro will become completely unviable for people of Delhi. In the present form, these losses will be borne by the Delhi government for nearly 20 years to come.”

Phase IV, featuring six corridors measuring over a 100 km that will take the network to the outer areas of the capital and make the airport more accessible, was approved by the Delhi government in January.

With the completion of the 103-km Phase IV, the total length of the Metro corridor in the city would cross the 450-km mark. Its detailed project report was cleared in June 2016. The mega project, as part of which 72 new stations will be built, will cost over Rs 50,000 crore, which is to be borne equally by the state and the Centre, said officials.

The DMRC refused to comment. Sources said that had there been problems, the government should not have “given in principle approval to the project”. “This is how urban transport works. Initially, a route might not have any passengers, but as a city grows the same Metro route will see a lot of passengers,” a source said.