Phase-4 work delayed only by 2-3 months: DMRC chief

new delhi: The COVID-19 situation has affected the Delhi Metro's phase-4 work, but the ongoing project will get delayed only by a couple of months and therefore, "won't entail much cost escalation", DMRC chief Mangu Singh

has said.

The Union Cabinet, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in March last year had approved three out of the six corridors of the Delhi Metro's proposed phase 4 which will further improve connectivity in

the Capital.

"We had started our work in December last year with a groundbreaking ceremony, and were making progress but then the COVID-19 happened and it hit everything. So, we were also hit. And ph-4 work has been affected due to the pandemic," Singh

said.

"Both COVID-19 and the lockdown it induced has impacted the project of Ph-4, but it won't get delayed by more than two to three months. And, therefore it won't entail much cost escalation," he said when asked

about it.

Singh said these are challenging times but the DMRC team utilised the lockdown time to work on detailing and designing of the project, so that "we would be ready whenever the situation

improved". Under the approved segment of phase-4, 61.679-km of new metro lines shall be constructed across three different corridors comprising 45 metro stations.