NEW DELHI: The
closure
of
Metro rail services
due to
Covid-19
pandemic resulted in
loss
of around Rs 1,609 crore to
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (
DMRC), Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri told Lok Sabha on Thursday.
In a written reply, the minister said during the lockdown period preparatory work like detailed designing, preparation of tender schedule, finalisation of tender have been carried out for projects. He added that the DMRC has informed that payments towards its loan have been made as per schedule.
Delhi Metro services, which were shut on March 22 to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, resumed on September 7 in a phased manner. Full-fledged normal operations resumed on September 12.
Responding to another question on impact of protests and riots on ridership, Puri said, “The DMRC has informed that there was some decline in cumulative ridership due to protests and riots in Delhi.”
In response to another question about the government's strategy to mitigate the effect of losses incurred by the DMRC, Puri said measures to enhance revenue through various innovative means such as provisioning of feeder system, property development at stations and on other land, leasing of spaces, Transit Oriented Development and Value Capture Finance are enumerated in the Metro Rail Policy, 2017. He said, “Ensuring financial sustainability during operations of the Metro rail system is the responsibility of the state government.”
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