Infrastructure Update - Aug5

Hello everybody!

This is the first Infrastructure update covering updates from the past week! In this first update allow me to digress from the happenings of last week and post relevant stuff from the weeks before it.

Here’s an outline of the topics covered in this weeks update -

• Metro Rail Systems – Delhi, Hyderabad & Mumbai(+local train news)
• Highways - contracts awarded and updates on expressways
• City Infra – Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai & Pune
• Aviation Scoop!
  

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Metro Rail Systems

Delhi Metro Rail

Work on Phase II of the Delhi Metro rail is going on at a war footing pace in all parts of Delhi including the suburbs of Gurgaon and Noida. During Phase II, Delhi metro plans to spread its tentacles in all directions to provide a better mode of transportation by adding a whopping 121kms of metro lines, taking the total kms covered to 186kms by 2010!

Thanks to the Commonwealth Games coming up in 2010, NCR is witnessing a total makeover of the region. This growth has further prompted suburban town development authorities like those of Ghaziabad, Najafgarh and Gurgaon to request DMRC to construct new lines or extend the metro line to their towns. Earlier the Ghaziabad development authority(GDA) was reluctant to pay a meager 167 crores for 2 kms but since Noida and Gurgaon are getting the metro by 2010, the GDA finally decided to pay up.

Residents who live near Dwarka and on the western side of NH8 (Palam Vihar,HUDA) have also requested Harayana’s govt to ask DMRC to construct a Dwarka-Gurgaon line via IGI airport during Phase II. But since DMRC has other lines to construct in record time, it has rightly rejected and promised to see if it could figure into their Phase III plans. Like they say -”Early bird gets the worm!”.

Another interesting piece of news from this week is that private developers can now finance DMRC to build lines to their Sub citys. Last month, DLF had requested RITES to conduct a feasibility study to see if the line from MG Road can be extended to their 125 acre cybercity on the edge of DLF city. An article from last week states that these feeder lines would be light rail metro systems and that the 5km DLF extension may cost DLF 500crores including the cost of trains and stations.

And here is the Hindustan Times article about the private developers foraying into the developing Light metro rail lines -

Controversy 1

The RWA’s (Residents Welfare associations) of Greater Kailash 1, East of Kailash and Kailash Colony – all opulent colonies of South Delhi have launched their protest against the Delhi metro building an elevated line between Greater Kailash and East of Kailash on a road called Lala Rajpat Rai Marg. This section is part of the Central Secretariat-Badarpur line that would be completed by September 2010. These people claim that they are not against the metro but want it to just go underground. In their protests,they have given many flawed and ludicrous reasons, which I will debunk in another blog

Status – Since many influential people live in these colonies, The Delhi govt has succumbed to the RWAs pressure and has requested the central govt to reconsider going elevated which has left the DMRC fuming.

Controversy II

A section of the the 19.5 kms airport express line was under the scanner. This time not from RWAs but the Delhi Urban Arts Commission and city administration who wanted the metro to go underground behind the Rashtrapati Bhavan(on willingdon cresecent) and Sardar Patel marg.

Status - DMRC has considered their plea and has decided to alter the route. Now the metro would take the Karol Bagh-Ridge Road-Dhaula Kuan route to reach IGI airport.This route would be a little longer than the previous one.

Controversy III

Thankfully there exists none as such. All other lines are being built at a rapid pace all over NCR. So,if you want to know more about the Delhi Metro and would like to see pictures of under construction lines,then head off to the Delhi Metro Updates+Pics thread!
Deadlines compiled from various news articles quoting DMRC officials

Line 1 – Dilshad Garden extension Dec 2008

Line 2 – Gurgaon Extension – July 2010
Line 2 – Jahangirpuri Extension- Oct 2009

Line 3 – Noida extension – Jul 2009
Line 3 – Anand Vihar ISBT extension -Sept 2009

Line 4*- Inderlok Mundka -June 2010
Line 5*- Airport Express line – 2010
Line 6 – Central Secretariat-Badarpur border -Sept 2010

*-Line number not confirmed

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Hyderabad Metro Rail

The technical bids were opened on the 24th of July and five consortiums have been short listed to build the 66kms long Hyderabad metro system. Phase 1 would comprise of 3 lines each intersecting one another. This system would be totally elevated and here is the route map from the Hindu newspaper -

The 5 short listed consortiums with the companies constituting them are -

• Essar Constructions, SREI, Singapore MRT, SEC & STE (Singapore)
• Magna Allmore (Malaysia), Siemens (Germany), Emirates Trading Agency (ETA-Dubai) & Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC)
• Reliance Energy & Bombardier (Canada)
• GVK, Gammon, Alstom (France) & IDFC
• Navabharat, Maytas, ItalThai (Thailand) & ILFS.

And in a major boost to the Hyderabad Metro,the union government this week agreed to give 10% more funding for the project. From a Hindu article -

Major share of funds: The Chairman of Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, S.P. Singh, and Managing Director N.V.S. Reddy participated in the project presentation. The prestigious project was to get 40 per cent of its funding from the Central and State Governments as Viability Gap Funding (VGF) as grant amounting to about Rs. 3,278 crore.

Extra funding: While HMR made a case for 35 per cent funding, the Centre had cleared 30 per cent which would amount to about Rs. 2,459 crore with the additional Rs. 820 crore. It also means the State’s burden would get reduced by the same amount of Rs. 820 crore, explained Mr. Reddy. The extra 10 per cent funding would come under the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Scheme (JNNURM), he added.

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Next in line come the financial bids which the consortiums would submit by September. The developer would be selected in October and work should hopefully start this November!

For more news and discussions about the Hyderabad metro, go to the Hyderabad Metro thread

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Mumbai Metro Rail

Preliminery work on Line 1 has already started with Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL)- the consortium constructing the Line 1 of the metro finishing most of the surveys on the 11.4 km Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor. MMOPL has tied up with some company to conduct an environment study and with MVA, an american consultancy company to finalise a comprehensive traffic management plan which would be implemented during the construction to minimize traffic delays. Mumbai Mirror interviewed the director of the project- Mr. KP Maheshwari who said that ground work would start this October once the monsoons are over. You can catch that interview here

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Mumbai Suburban Railway news

The Western Railways last week tested the new Siemens powered train that it plans to roll out by October. WR plans to run 157 such trains that would would help to save 20 crore units of electricity! These trains would have 12 cars and would each cost 20 crore rupees. more info from TOI’s epaper -

“The new trains, with looks designed by the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, have much more ventilation, better seats due to extra cushion and less jerks due to latest suspensions. The trains will run much faster because it will run on alternating current (AC) mode of power supply. Its motor is powered by Siemens AG, Germany.“

During a recent trial run -

Picture from HT

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Highways and Expressways

Highways

During the last 2 weeks,many highway contracts were awarded by NHAI.

In Tamil Nadu, Reliance Energy bagged three 4 laning highway contracts totaling 400kms.

• Salem – Ulundurpet -NH68
• Trichy- Karur – NH67
• Trichy- Dindigul – NH45

Here’s a map showing the locations -

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Along with these high density corridors,NHAI awarded a consortium of Maytas-NCC to 4 lane 45kms of NH66 between Tindivanam and Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu.

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NHAI awarded a company named Atlanta to four lane NH6 from Nagpur to Kondhali in the state of Maharashtra. This highway “forms part of a plan to build infrastructure around the multimodal international passenger and cargo hub airport at Nagpur “

map – click to view

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Soma Entrerprises was awarded a 17.2 km project near the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal in Kerala. This project involves “the construction of a 17.2-km highway which will include one flyover, 12 bridges, one railway under bridge, seven underpasses and one toll plaza. The project is scheduled for completion over 30 months. “

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Lanco infratech was awarded the four laning of two highways in Karnataka. The highways are -

• Bangalore-Hoskote-Mudbagal stretch on NH4 (81Kms)
• Neelamangla-Devihalli stretch on NH48 (82Kms)

Map-click to view

On Aug3, T R Baalu the Union Minister of highways said that the 6 laning of the Bangalore-Hathipalli section on NH7 would be extended further south to reach the city of Krishnagiri in Tamil Nadu. The Bangalore-Krishnagiri section is 85-odd kms long.

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The Madhya Pradesh cabinet has approved a bypass project for Bhopal which includes the construction of 2 railway over bridges,2 flyovers and a 50km four laned road.

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Expressways

The Maharashtra state road development corporation(MSRDC) plans to extend the 95kms long Mumbai-Pune Expressway to Sion circle on the Mumbai end. This 33kms extension would have 12 lanes comprising of 6 main expressway lanes and 3 frontage road lanes on either side. Work is expected to commence this December and according to the state government NO land has to be acquired by it as it is in possession of all the land that is required. Now that’s called “apne hee pair pe kulhadi marna!“. Now the state cannot blame land acquisition issues for delays. Sweet!

This is how the extension alignment(in red) may look like. The place where the pink line to the north of the word ‘Panvel’ intersects the orange line is the Mumbai terminus of the Mumbai -Pune Expressway.

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Work on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link might just stall and miss its Apr2008 deadline (Govt claims this deadline) as the MSRDC hasnt paid Hindustan Construction Company(HCC), the company executing the 4.7 km long Bandra Worli Sea link project, 233 crores since 2004. The CMD of HCC, Mr. Ajit Gulabchand states that HCC has invested 889Crores while MSRDC has only paid them 247crores.

The CNN-IBN reporter who covered this news also states that “HCC cannot continue the construction until the government pays up”. Does this mean that work would not commence once the monsoons are over? Watch this news @CNN-IBN here.

Amazing shots of the sea link have been added to the our sub forum. You can catch all of them here

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Work on the first phase of Hyderabad’s 8 Laned Outer Ring Road (ORR) is on track. Phase one of this 162kms long Ring Road involves the construction of 24kms of four laned road from Gachibowli to Shamshadbad. Piyush Kumar,the director of the ORR project has stated that work on the road would be completed by March 2009 – a month away from the grand opening of the new Hyderabad International Aiport@Shamshabad! However, the underpasses and interchanges would be completed by a later date.

Bidding for the 61.8kms Phase2A of this project would start in September and most of the land acquisition has been completed. During this phase, the Outer Ring Road would sweep from Shamshabad to Pedda Amberpet and from Narsingi to Patancheru.

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The Bangalore Elevated Toll Highway on NH7 is also progressing at a brisk pace. There hasn’t been any delay till now and Soma Enterprises, the company executing the project is confident that the 14 lane highway project would be completed by July2008.

New Pictures have been added to the BETL thread in the SSC Indian forum.

Here is a render of the interchange@Electronics City

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City Road Infrastructure

Chennai

Many flyovers/interchanges are under construction on major junctions in the city – Kathipara,Koyembedu and Maduravoyal to name a few.

Here is a shot of the airport road flyover on NH45 taken last week.

Here are the renders of the under construction grade separators/interchanges -

Kathipara Junction (intersection of NH 45 and Inner Ring Road)

Koyembedu junction (the intersection of NH 4 and Inner Ring Road)

Padi elevated rotary (intersection of NH 205 and Inner Ring Road)

Interchange near Maduravoyal

Airport road flyover on NH45

IT Expressway – the name is a misnomer as many at-grade intersections can be found on the road. To be constructed in 2 phases, This 45kms corridor from Madhya Kailash junction in Chennai to Mahabalipuram would be 6 laned and would have a one lane frontage road on either side. The corridor would have footpaths, bus stops, extensive landscaping, road side arts and sculptures on the side of the road. Along with these an underpass and 4-5 subways have been proposed and trees would be planted on the median. There would also be a ten lane state-of-the-art toll plaza at Perungudi with an electronic toll collection system. Right now, a short stretch of the corridor has been completed and a foot over bridge between TVMR MRTS station and Tidel Park has been built.

some pictures taken by members of SSC -

For more news and discussions from Chennai head off to the Chennai updates thread
and the IT Expressway threads!

IT Expressway Thread 1
IT Expressway Thread 2
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Delhi

Foundation stones for an underpass at Bhera enclave(Outer Ring Road) and a flyover at nangoloi(NH10) were laid this week. Along with these, 15 flyovers and underpasses have been approved and work has started on most of them. According to this recent article,27 new flyovers and underpasses would be operational by 2010 taking the number of flyovers,underpasses in the capital to 100+!

Ads found in HT -

Underpass at Behra Enclave

Flyover at Nangloi on NH10

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Hyderabad

Six flyovers are being constructed in Hyderabad. Here’a list of the flyovers with their status -

1> Nalgonda Crossroads flyover – basic structure is ready – 2 more months to be commissioned.

2> Chandrayanagutta flyover – aiming for inauguration by Aug 15th.

3> Jamai Osmania flyover – aiming for inauguration by Aug 15th.

4> Punjagutta flyover – one span would be opened by the end of Aug07

5> Greenlands flyover – expected to be ready by Nov-Dec 2007

6 > Sitaphalpmandi flyover – probably ready by Dec07. (There isn’t much news out there on this one.)

More news on projects going on in the booming city of Hyderabad can be found here

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Kolkata

Last month, the 6 lane cable stayed ‘Nivedita Bridge‘ was thrown open to traffic. Nivedita Bridge is also known as the 2nd Vivekananda Bridge as it has been built just 50m downstream from the Vivekananda bridge that was built in 1932. This 880m long bridge is part of the 8km Belghoria Expressway that links NH2/6 on the upper west side of the Hooghly river to NH34/35 on the upper east side. A 16 lane toll plaza has been constructed on the Howrah side.

location-

Pictures -

Thats the old bridge on the left side.

More pictures of the toll plaza and approach ramps can be found on this page

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Mumbai

Work is going on on 5 flyovers on the Western Express Highway(WEH) and all five are expected to be operational before 2009. Along with these flyovers, the WEH has also been expanded to 10-12 lanes at more sections. Here’s a list of the expanded sections and the flyovers under construction -

Here’s how the WEH looks near Khar East (Heading down south)
picture copyright jbgammon

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Pune

Last month, the one way university flyover was thrown open to the public. Its a little less than a km long and has helped to solve the traffic woes on Pashan,Baner and Aundh roads.

model of the flyover followed by a picture of the inauguration.

A 20 storied mechanized car parking tower was also opened last month in Pune. This tower has been built in the heart of the town – Sambhaji Park and can park upto 80 cars in a ground space where 4 cars could be parked(PMC claims this).

The tower can be seen in this picture.

Speaking of mechanized parking, an automatic underground parking lot was opened near new market in Kolkata back in April . This multilevel lot can accomodate 270 cars. Other cities should follow suite!

Kolkata

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Aviation Scoop!

On August1, the newly merged Air India launched its daily Mumbai-JFK nonstop flight using new the B777s. The maiden flight from Mumbai flew with only 80 passengers with critics citing Air India’s image coupled with poor marketing strategies . The two B777′s have been christened as Assam and Andhra Pradesh. In the future, Air India also plans to roll out Del-NYC and B’lore – SFO nonstop flights.

And today, Jet Airways launched its daily Mumbai-Brussels-Newark flight using their B777s. Despite having B777′s, Jet Airways’s management believes that the stop over at Brussels would be more profitable as it would not only cater to people from India but also from Europe and Africa. Jet Airways is also launching its daily Delhi-Brussels-Toronto flight on the 5th of September.

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The airport authorities of India has released the May07 passenger numbers for airports with more than one million passengers. All the cities have posted high growth rates with Mumbai leading the pack.

The figure mentioned in the brackets is the % growth from May06

1 Mumbai 2222423 (14.8)
2 Delhi 1951624 (20.8)
3 Chennai 943395 (26.7)
4 Bangalore 868316 (43.2)
5 Kolkata 654424 (29.6)
6 Hyderabad 595789 (28.6)
7 Ahmedabad 283008 (29.0)
8 Cochin 277526 (24.7)
9 Trivandrum 187911 (26.1)
10 Goa 182187 (21.1)
11 Pune 151172 (18.1)
12 Calicut 131139 (31.1)
13 Guwahati 120938 (44.1)
14 Coimbatore 97823 (19.6)
15 Jaipur 93589 (110.0)

Many new domestic and international flights have been announced and you can catch more news about them at the SSC Indian Aviation thread!

For images of airports and planes,head off to the SSC Indian Aviation Picture thread!

And thats it from this weeks Infrastructure update! Adios!

IU

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