CHENNAI: The Metro Rail project between Airport and Kilambakkam is still under consideration with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), despite the Detailed Project Report (DPR) being submitted to the Union government 13 months ago.
Despite the repeated media coverage over the delay in approving the project and pressure from the state government, the procedure has not been expedited by the Ministry. And, the same has been confirmed in the recent Right to Information (RTI) reply.
Dayanand Krishnan, a GIS expert and transportation activist who filed the RTI petition in March this year, urged the new government to add pressure to the Union government to approve the project.
"It has been 13 months since the outgoing DMK government and the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) submitted the DPR to the Union government. But, so far, the Ministry has kept the approval procedure in preliminary status only," he noted. He argued that the same delay is not followed for extending approvals to Metro projects in Northern states.
The RTI petition revealed that the DPR for Suraj in Gujarat submitted in September 2018 was approved in 'six months' in March 2019.
Similarly, a DPR submitted by Uttar Pradesh for Kanpur and Agra Metro Rail projects in January 2019 was approved by MoHUA in 'four months' in May 2019. Likewise, for the Patna project, Bihar submitted a DPR in October 2018, which was approved in February 2019, in just six months, as revealed by an RTI petition.
However, Tamil Nadu has been continuing to work on the project, with the DMK government allotting Rs 1,964 crore for preparatory works to be carried out along the Chennai Airport to Kilambakkam stretch for 15.46 km in September 2025.
In the amount sanctioned, Rs 112.50 crore has been earmarked for road works, topographic surveys, geotechnical investigation, barricading, tree cutting and replantation, signage, environmental protection and traffic management. While for the land acquisition, the cost has been estimated at Rs 1, 816 crore.