Calcutta: Most of the ongoing six Metro extension projects will be over by the end of 2019 if things go as planned, the Metro Railway general manger said on Monday.
Ajay Vijayvargiya was speaking at a conference on Doing Business with Indian Railways, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Vijayvargiya praised the government for taking the initiative to remove encroachments that had dogged various projects in the city but said there were still a few hurdles.
Work on several stretches of all the six projects, to cost Rs 21,811.52 crore, have been stalled for more than six years because of encroachments resulting in multiple missed deadlines.
"Fifty hutments in Kamarhati Municipality were removed recently for the Noapara-Dakshineswar Metro project. The rest is expected to be removed within a month."
"The 3.93km stretch is supposed to be completed by June 2019, while the deadline for the Joka-Majherhat (9km) stretch is December 2019," Vijayvargiya said.
"The Noapara-Jessore Road (5.3km), part of the Noapara-Airport-Barasat Metro, target date is 2019."
June 2019 is the completion date for the first phase of the New Garia-Airport Metro between New Garia and Hemanta Mukherjee stations (Ruby crossing on the Bypass), a distance of 5.3km.
December 2019 is the completion date for the 10km stretch between Hemanta Mukherjee and Salt Lake Sector V stations.
The 16.55km East-West Metro is the most challenging, the Metro general manager said.
Deadlines are difficult to meet as long as land problems remain, railway officials said.
Metro coaches on the new routes will have CCTV cameras, Vijayvargiya said. Passenger safety measures will be increased, he said.