DMRC named consultants for monorail project

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has been selected by the government as the project consultants for the 41.8-km monorail, an elevated rail-based mass rapid transit system (MRTS), on the Mangalapuram-Ulloor-

Overbridge-

Killipalam-Neyyattinkara corridor in the capital.

The State government issued the orders on Monday as the project had been found feasible by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (Natpac). Official sources said the Principal Secretary, Transport, had been asked to prepare the terms and conditions to entrust the job with the DMRC.

By issuing the order, the government had set the ball rolling for the ambitious project, expected to reduce the dependence on personalised modes of transport and take away 40 per cent of road traffic in the capital city. Already, the DMRC had been entrusted with the project consultancy of the monorail project in Kozhikode. The survey works had commenced.

DMRC is also behind the proposed Kochi Metro and the High-Speed Rail Corridor from the North to the South of the State. With this, the government had roped in the DMRC for the four major transport projects expected to alter the transport scenario of the State.

The Natpac had suggested that the monorail in the capital can be implemented on a design, build, finance, operate, and transfer (DBFOT) mode. The 22.2-km first phase, from Pallippuram to Thampanoor, could be commissioned by 2016 if the construction commences by 2013.

The 19.6-km second phase from Thampanoor to Neyyattinkara will be ready by January 2018. The first phase will cost Rs.2,775 crore and the second Rs.2,324 crore. The cost works out to Rs.125 crore a km in the first phase and Rs.118.7 a km in the second phase.

The study had found that only minimum land acquisition, to cost around Rs.479 crore, would be required. The alignment formation was estimated to cost Rs.1,168 crore and each monorail station building would cost Rs.8.26 crore. As per the Natpac report, the first phase would culminate in front of the Sreekumar Theatre as the monorail would have to cross the railway line en route to Neyattinkara.