Work on the Chennai Metro Rail project is apace and will be completed by 2015 as planned, according to Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
Addressing mediapersons on Friday, after inspecting three locations where the construction work for the project is on, he said a detailed project report by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation on the possibility of extending the Metro Rail Project to Tiruvottiyur was expected by the end of this month.
“Once the report is ready, the government will take a decision on the issue,” he said. Work on phase I of the project, covering a stretch of 4.5 km from Koyambedu to Ashok Nagar is progressing as per schedule.
Work on phase II, the 4.4. km stretch from Ashok Nagar to St. Thomas Mount, has commenced, while work on the 5.2 km stretch from Saidapet to the Officers Training Academy has just begun, as part of phase III of the project. The plan for the elevated corridor for phase IV, from the Officers Training Academy to the Chennai airport is being finalised, Mr. Stalin said. “We are also in the process of scrutinising tenders for the construction of the 10 elevated railway stations,” he said. A team of officials from the Chennai Metro Rail project later visited a 25-hectare site behind the Koyambedu wholesale market where a depot for the project is coming up.