Chennai Metro Rail Limited will first take up construction work only for about 50 km as part of phase II project that totally covers 108 km. In this 50 km, two stretches — one from Madhavaram to CMBT (15 km) and the other from Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (35 km), will be covered.
According to sources, as the cost of the entire project for 108 km goes up to ₹ 80,000 crore, getting that amount for the whole project will be very difficult. “Hence, based on the number of people who travel on these two stretches and a few other criteria, we chose to start with these two corridors first. Subsequently, the remaining corridors will be taken up for construction. It is likely to cost about ₹40,000 crore for constructing these two stretches,” a source said.
Both stretches will be partially underground. The line from Madhavaram Milk Colony to Kolathur Junction will be an elevated stretch. Thereafter, it will be underground up to CMBT. The phase II CMBT Station will be connected to the existing phase I station, another source said.
On the second stretch, Madhavaram Milk Colony to Taramani Road Junction will be underground and then it will be elevated all the way up to Shollinganallur.
Tenders for soil tests
Chennai Metro Rail has now called for tenders to conduct soil tests between Madhavaram Milk Colony and CMBT and from Taramani Road Junction to Shollinganallur. Sources said if these preliminary works are complete and as soon as the approval from the Centre comes, they can immediately float tenders and start work. The soil tests will cost about ₹45 lakh. According to Chennai Metro Rail, as part of this soil tests exercise, they will drill bore holes in the area and check the type of soil and its quality.
Chennai Metro Rail sent the detailed project report to the Centre for approval several months ago. “The officials have raised many queries to which we have responded; we have been in touch with them to see if there is any other additional information that is needed. We are working to get the approval at the earliest,” an official said.
