'Delhi government's approval for DPR financial commitment not received for 2 RRTS corridors'

New Delhi: The Delhi government's approval for financial commitment with regard to detailed project reports of two RRTS corridors — Delhi-Gurugram-SNB and Delhi-Panipat — has not been received, the Centre told Rajya Sabha on Monday.

In a written reply, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the National Capital Region Planning Board prepared a 'Functional Plan on Transport for NCR-2032' which recommended eight Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridors to connect various important towns with the high speed rail-based commuter transit system.

The six corridors that start from Delhi are Gurgaon Rewari-Alwar, Ghaziabad-Meerut, Sonipat-Panipat, Faridabad-Ballabhgarh-Palwal, Bahadurgarh-Rohtak and Shahdara-Baraut. The remaining two corridors are Ghaziabad-Khurja and Ghaziabad-Hapur.

The Union housing and urban affairs minister said that the task force constituted by the then Planning Commission prioritised three corridors -- Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-Rewari-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat.

He said that the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor has been approved and construction work is underway.

"Approval of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD) with financial commitment on DPRs of the Delhi-Gurugram-SNB RRTS corridor and the Delhi-Panipat RRTS corridor has not been received," Puri said in the written reply.

The minister said that DPRs after feasibility study was received from the National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) for Delhi-Gurugram-SNB (Shahjahanpur-Neemrana- Behror) Urban Complex RRTS Corridor in December 2018 and for SNB Urban Complex to Sotanala RRTS Corridor in June 2020. These are part of the Delhi-Gurugram-Rewari-Alwar RRTS Project.

The DPR of the Delhi-Panipat corridor was received from NCRTC in June 2020, he also said. "The RRTS projects are cost intensive projects which require extensive inter-ministerial consultations and their approval depends on feasibility of projects and availability of resources. The allocation/release of funds and construction activity of project is undertaken once the project is approved," Puri added.