AHMEDABAD: There will finally be some ground-level activity on the Ahmedabad Metro project in the last week of February. Metrorail Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) may begin construction of the elevated corridor from Vastral to Apparel Park in Maninagar.
I P Gautam, vice chairman of MEGA said: “The tender for construction of the elevated corridor from Vastral to Apparel Park has been issued and will be finalized shortly.”
Officials in MEGA said work on the east-west corridor (from Thaltej to Vastral) and north-south corridor (APMC to Motera) will be taken up in four phases. The first will be Vastral to Apparel Park, the second from Thaltej to Saraspur and the third will be the underground corridor connecting Saraspur and Apparel Park.
A senior officer said that the metro project had missed several deadline, the last one was as recent as November 2014. This time, it appears that work will begin as tenders have already been floated.
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Officials said construction of the elevated corridor from APMC to Motera will be the fourth and final phase, which is awaiting design approval from the railways. Officials said MEGA officials were forced to take up the stretch in the eastern corridor as this is the only stretch where there are no controversies and land is available. On the western side, towards Thaltej, there are issues regarding land, as 300-odd shop owners were against the move to take the metro to Thaltej Gam.
Officials said that as the train will originate from Thaltej, a huge swathe of land is required for a depot and parking facilities, and they hence have to extend the service to Thaltej Gam.
