Six months more before work on Metro line 2

The foundation-laying ceremony by President Pratibha Patil on August 19 was symbolic,held before the election code of conduct came into force.

K P Maheshwari,senior vice president of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd,said the consortium led by the company will have to carry out studies on the alignment of the 32-km corridor,after which designs would be made. “It will take at least six months before actual work can start. We will carry out studies along the alignment,and according to it the designs will be made,” Maheshwari said.

It is expected to take even longer than six months; a special purpose vehicle will have to be created before tenders are floated for civil works.

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Work on the city’s first Metro corridor,Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar,also being executed by Reliance Infrastructure,began in February 2008,19 months after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid the foundation stone.

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd,which has bagged the contract for the 27-station elevated corridor,is expected to achieve financial closure within nine months of signing the concession agreement.

“We will ask the company to expedite the procedures to actually start the work. We expect the work to start by next March,” said Dilip Kawathkar,joint project director (public relations),MMRDA.

According to MMRDA,the concession agreement will be signed by September-end while construction is expected to take five years from the date of financial closure.

Reliance Infrastructure has estimated that the corridor would cost nearly Rs 11,000 crore,which is Rs 2,750 crore more than MMRDA’s estimate.