Metros of innovation & inhibition

“This cantilever elevated station design has been proposed for the first time in India and is a rare engineering feat by L&T structural engineers,” said Hyderabad Metro Rail managing director N V S Reddy. “Each station will have a length of 140m and a width of 20m. With the station resting on only about 10 central pillars without any on the sides,the road below will look open,spacious and airy.”

Stations will land on the sides of the road. They are being designed with open sides for natural ventilation and state-of-the-art security features. All facilities included,their width be will between 30m and 60m,depending on the road.

The hurdle is that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation still has to acquire over 1,400 properties,including shops,houses,and a few temples,mosques and graveyards. It has acquired 250 of 270 acres required. In the remaining 20,Reddy said,“the owners are not willing to give up their properties. They are not even willing to talk about compensation.”

“We have already given 80 per cent right of way and are working on the rest,” said the GHMC’s additional commissioner (planning),K Dhananjay Reddy.

At the recent South Zone Conference on Sustainable Solutions to Tackle Congestion for Better Liveable City,this came up for discussion. “It is a challenging task. We are offering property owners a good compensation package including rehabilitation. We have offered special permission to some owners to build vertically to compensate,” Dhananjay Reddy said.

The challenges include Central land with records not updated,public gardens,and old trees the GHMC will relocate. Because of the sentiments involved,officials say they are leaving the religious places till the last. Besides,they have not yet started to deal with acquisition of small defence and railway plots.

The target for the Rs-12,132-crore,72km,three-corridor project is July 2017.

In Kolkata,underwater tunnel and alignment uncertainty

Arshad Ali

Kolkata: Three decades after putting India on the Metro map,Kolkata promises to give the country another first with an underwater section along a new route in the works. Some 600m of the 14.67km second route — only one route has served the city since 1984 — will go under the Hooghly.

But another key section has become uncertain because of acquisition issues. The developers have been advised to realign it but fear this will put investors off.

The underwater tunnel will be built by a joint venture of Afcons Infrastructure and Transtonnelstroy on the lines of the transnational one beneath the English Channel. “The tunnel will be 600m long and 40m deep,” said Subrata Gupta,MD,Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation,adding its safety standards would match those of what is called the “Chunnel”.

The realignment has been proposed by the transport department. “If it is not realigned,the problem of acquisition would take time to resolve and the project is already a year behind schedule. And if a realignment is done,then the principal overseas funder,Japan International Cooperation Agency,might not be ready to put in its share for fear of a longer delay,” said a Metro official.

The opposition to acquisition is largely in the area around Central station,where the proposed east-west line is meant to cross the existing north-west line. The transport department has proposed a crossing nearer Esplanade station.

Gupta said there was no guarantee that a new alignment would not create a fresh problem. “Once again there would be a hawkers’ problem and precious time would be lost in negotiation,” he said.

Another hurdle is the rehabilitation of 54 families of Subhas Sarovar near the eastern end of the new line. The municipal corporation had asked the Metro corporation to build a temporary settlement,which it did. “The residents did not move in as they wanted a permanent settlement,which we are ready to build if the municipal corporation specifies where,” he said.

Debashis Sen,principal secretary,urban development,said the problem has been resolved while mayor Sovan Chatterjee said,“I will look into it.”

The estimated project cost,Rs 4078.40 crore in 2007,is now Rs 5,000 crore.