Chennai: The moment Chennaiites were waiting for became reality on Sunday when the city got its first full underground Metro corridor.
The project has been on for more than eight years now since work began in 2009 and the patient wait while tunnelling went on, sometimes perilously for some old city buildings, trains with happy commuters in them were seen snaking in and out of tube stations in thrilling manner.
The first underground Metro corridor connecting Koyambedu to Nehru Park was jointly inaugurated by chief minister, Edappadi K Palaniswami, and union minister, Venkaiah Naidu, on Sunday morning.
With this 7.36km long corridor now operational, riders can now get a ride from Nehru Park to the Chennai Airport, connecting areas like Kilpauk, Anna Nagar East, Koyambedu, Ashok Nagar, Alandur, and Meenambakkam.
Speaking on the occasion, Palaniswami said: “The Metro rail was former chief minister, late Amma’s dream. From 2014 to till date, Rs 13,000 crore have been spent on the work done in this stretch.”
He added that the state government has written to the union government to expedite the work on Phase-II spanning three corridors and a length of 108km.
The three lines will be connecting areas like Madhavaram, Siruseri, Marina Light House, thus making Metro available from areas of Northern Chennai right upto the IT corridor.
The state government has agreed to develop three metro lines at a cost of Rs 85,047 crore. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had expressed interest in extending financial support for the same.
The CM requested the union Minster to expedite approval of the project report for the same. “The remaining stretch connecting Egmore and Chennai Central will be completed later this year. We are expecting the entire the phase-I to be completed by mid-2018,” the chief minister added.
Speaking on the occasion, Venkaiah Naidu said that with this new stretch, around 28km of the metro rail is now operational and by the completion of phase-I, 7.75 lakh people would be using Metro in Chennai.
“I miss your late chief minister, J Jayalalithaa. She was not only a dynamic, able administrator but a loving person. She is one leader I admire outside my party,” he said, speaking about the former chief minister at the occasion. Following the inauguration, the ministers, accompanied by government officials, took a ride on the inaugurated stretch.
