Plagued by delays due to land acquisition, slum relocation and route alignment problems, the project cost of the East West Metro Corridor may end up 1.7 times over the original estimate of Rs.4,875.85 crore, union minister Babul Supriyo said here on Monday.Speaking at an MCC Chamber of Commerce and Industry event here, the union minister of state for urban development said the first phase of the railway services connecting the IT hub of Salt Lake to the central part of the cit - Sealdah - would become operational by June 2018."The project cost when sanctioned in 2008 was Rs.4,875.85 crore. While the physical progress has been just 39.5 percent, the financial progress in the project has been 39.11 percent."Because of the delays, the cost is escalating and by the time the project is completed, even by conservative estimates, the cost will be at least 1.7 times the original cost," said Supriyo.Talking about the first phase which had run into problems at Duttabad in Salt Lake after several of the settlers refused relocation, Supriyo said the issue has now been resolved and the work has started. "The Duttabad issue has been resolved and work has already started. We are confident of completing the first phase of the project by June 2018. In fact we are targeting to get it done hopefully by December 2017, reducing the time period by six months," he said.
The singer-turned-politician however said the second phase of the project from Sealdah to Howrah Maidan was facing route alignment issues. "The state government has proposed a realignment to which we have agreed but the new route actually goes within 40 metres of the Old Currency Building. The building being a heritage building, no construction is allowed within 100 metres of its perimeter," he said citing the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act. "We are now writing to the ASI urging to treat it as a special case and allow the construction. Today we have advanced construction technology which might not cause any adverse affect on the heritage structure. So the fate of the phase two of the project now depends on ASI giving the go ahead for the realigned route," he said. Talking about the cost escalation, Supriyo said as per RITES estimates, the realignment cost alone would be over Rs. 650 crore.