No right of way clearance, metro work in Gurgaon hits hurdle

Akanksha.Gupta

Gurgaon: A 2.5km gap in ‘right of way’ clearance between Hero Honda Chowk and Umang Bharadwaj Chowk has emerged as a serious bottleneck for the first phase of city metro, threatening to slow down a project slated for completion in 2028.

Even as piling, pier work and casting of girders have moved ahead on other sections of the 15.3km corridor, construction on this stretch cannot begin until the road is handed over — a delay that has dragged on for more than a year now.

The stretch is being redeveloped by NHAI as a ‘deposit work’ for GMDA. But the handover has been held up by uncertainty over the final road design and a delay in utility shifting, leaving one of the corridor’s most critical links out of bounds for metro builders.

A senior GMRL official said repeated requests for clearance have had little effect. “We have been asking for RoW clearance for the past one year, but it has still not been handed over. This will hamper progress and affect the timeline we are trying to achieve,” the official added.

The stalled section falls on the 15.3km phase-1 line from Millennium City Centre to Sector 9. The project, estimated at Rs 1,277 crore, was awarded in Aug last year and physical work began in Nov.

On the ground, work has advanced up to Hero Honda Chowk. “Pile work is underway from Millennium City Centre to Hero Honda Chowk, piers are being built and girder casting has started. We are hoping to begin launching girders within the next two months,” the GMRL official said.

The delay has also reached a high-powered committee chaired by the chief secretary, which is reviewing the metro project’s progress.

NHAI officials agreed that the main hurdle is shifting of utilities, which involves multiple agencies and a tightly linked sequence of work. HVPNL’s transmission infrastructure has to be moved, a substation is under construction, and DHBVN is relocating feeder lines along the corridor.

“Most of HVPNL’s transmission line work is complete, while civil work on the substation is still going on,” an NHAI official said. Of the 32 feeder lines on the stretch, 17 are being shifted by DHBVN and 15 by NHAI.

Officials said sewer lines and water pipelines cannot be shifted until the power infrastructure is moved. “There are a large number of electric poles. Until they are removed, the underground utility work cannot proceed,” the official said, adding that power shifting is being targeted by June, though progress depends partly on DHBVN.

Phase 1 of the city metro will run from Millennium City Centre to Sector 9, with a spur from Basai to Dwarka Expressway at Sector 101. The corridor will have 14 elevated stations, including Millennium City Centre, Sector 45, Cyber Park, Subhash Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Basai and Sector 9.
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