Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Monday chaired a review meeting to look at the progress of Chennai Metro Rail.
Managing director K. Rajaraman briefed the CM on the development of the project and the assistance they may require from the State government, said an official of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL).
“This meeting should have happened earlier; for some reason it got delayed. Mr. Rajaraman has detailed the various stages of construction on the two corridors of the project and we have sought help from the government on some issues,” he added.
The timeline of the project and the tentative deadlines for work on the stretches were also mentioned to the CM during the presentation.
“We have overcome most of the land acquisition problems. But the land near Central station has still not been cleared. Also, we need support from the government as there will be some more traffic diversions in the city required to complete the work,” the official said.
According to the official, the Metro Rail station at Central would have a huge parking space. An airport check-in facility is already in the pipeline and will enable commuters to check-in at the Metro station and directly enter the terminal after disembarking at the airport Metro station.
He said the civil work at the depot in Koyambedu, where the test run of the first Metro train will be carried out, has nearly been completed but they were still awaiting a date for the run from the CM. A date had already been sought and a request for the same was sent to the chief secretary sometime back by Chennai Metro Rail officials.
The first Metro train arrived from Sao Paolo in Brazil at the Chennai Port late in May and was subsequently taken to the depot.
